Solo Cup closes Havre de Grace center as it cuts costs - Baltimore Business Journal:

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cup maker continues consolidating its real The company shut downthe 500,000-square-foot facility in around the same time it laid off 150 productioj line workers and 29 corporate jobs in Owings Workers were notified about a month befores the Dec. 14 closure and were givenn the opportunity to transfer to eithefr Owings Mills or Hampsteacd inCarroll County, companu spokeswoman Angie Chaplin said. Only 10 employees acceptes the offer. Solo Cup owns the property at 1900Clarik Road, which is assessed at $20.4 and has retained Cushman Wakefield of Maryland to sell or lease the Leasing space there would cost $3.85 per square foot. Harford County’s unemploymengt rate has climbedfrom 3.
1 percenft in November 2007 to 5 percent in November 2008 as 2,5000 workers lost their jobs in the county over the past The situation is just as severew across Greater Baltimore and the where the unemployment rate increased to 5.8 percent in A number of employers have announced largde numbers of job cuts, includingf in Baltimore County, Harland Clarke in Anne Arundelp County, and more recently, in Howard County. Solo Cup did not notifh economic development officials in Havre de Grace or in Harford where news ofthe plant’se closure disappointed but did not surprise Harford County Economivc Development Director James C. Richardson.
The company has been downsizintg or closing plants acrossthe country, includinhg operations in Albuquerque, and a manufacturing plant near its Illinoids headquarters. The company paid $4.5 million in severance and othetr costs tied to those plant closured for the quarterended 28, 2008, the company said in its most recent quarterly reporg filed in November. For the the company posted net salesof $462 million, down from $527 millio for third quarter 2007. Its earningse were $13 million down from $21 million in thirsd quarter 2007.
The decision to close its Havre de Gracr facility was driven by upgrades and improved equipmengt atSolo Cup’s other sites, includinvg in Hampstead, Chaplin said. As the reported May 23, Solo Cup has considered consolidating its Owings Mills and Havrse de Grace plants into larger spacein Hampstead. Chaplib said the company is still studying its space inGreater Baltimore. Aboutr 950 plant and corporate employees work at the OwingsMillds site. Baltimore County Economi Development DirectorDavid S.
Iannucci said he is concerned about keepinv Solo Cup in the county and has initiated several meetings with the company over thepast