Economic redevelopment efforts for Howard County's Route 1 corridor gain steam
Howard County's Route 1 corridor has seen some big investments come in over the past few months.
Most recently, Tradepoint Atlantic announced it was expanding along the corridor.
This is the culmination of years-long efforts by Howard County leadership, and the Howard County Chamber of Commerce said it's great momentum to attract even more business for the corridor.
Economic development along the corridor
After Tradepoint Atlantic turned Sparrow's Point into a global hub, the company announced on Tuesday it's expanding to a location in Savage along Route 1.
The company is investing over $100 million to create an office industrial park called Tradepoint at Savage Crossing. The expansion will create around 500 new jobs in the supply chain and logistics.
This is Tradepoint's first expansion outside of Baltimore County.
"Located strategically within the Baltimore-Washington region, Howard County's Route 1 corridor stood out as a promising location and opportunity to expand and leverage Tradepoint's development platform," said Aaron Tomarchio, the company's Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs.
Demolition for the industrial park is expected to start in 2026, with construction slated to be done by 2028 or 2029.
In January, Howard County Executive Calvin Ball announced the county's first designated enterprise zone, which includes a part of Elkridge's Route 1 corridor and some of Columbia.
The zone offers businesses tax incentives and other benefits to grow.
Saval Foodservices, which is in the zone, calls it a game changer. It's been based in Howard County for decades.
"We view our growth as an opportunity to give back to Howard County by supporting the community and other businesses through our partnerships and hiring efforts," said Jeff Saval, Vice President for Saval Foodservices.
Positioning Howard County as a go-to
Kristi Simon, President and CEO of the Howard County Chamber of Commerce, said all of these developments show there's momentum to build back the corridor to what it was.
"Most people feel as though Howard County just features a lot of the more white-collar-type businesses," Simon said. "But, we have a great community of manufacturers and more industrial-type organizations."
It also puts up a signal to other businesses, according to Simon, to come to Howard County.
"The more we can do creatively to retain and acquire businesses and get them to come here to Maryland is just extremely important right now," she said.
