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The former Serta Mattress building at 2375 Parkway Drive in Ellicott won't stay vacant for too long.
Premier Precision Machining, LLC, also known as Rand Aerospace and Defense Group, plans to buy the building to increase its capacity, retain 115 existing employees and add 31 new full-time jobs over the next three years. The company plans to keep its Allen Street facility while adding the Parkway Drive facility.
Rosemarie Strandburg with the county IDA stated that Rand is acquiring the building to support the growth of its defense programs. Strandburg said Rand is looking to make improvements to the former Serta Mattress building, which is located in the Mason Industrial Park, including electrical and HVAC upgrades, and installing machinery and equipment. The entire cost of the project is around $5.7 million. The project should take between 12 and 18 months to complete.
Rand Machine Products President Dan McKenrick said the county IDA’s partnership has “really solidified Rand” which is allowing them to expand.
“For the future there really is a generational change in the industry particularly in defense and aerospace and Rand has a unique opportunity in timing to capture that and secure that business for the future,” he said.
Rand's expansion plans are good news for an area that has lost a fair amount of manufacturing capacity with the loss of Serta and Bush Industries in the recent past – though a net loss of about 50 positions. The good news is that the expansion of a local company means a vacant plant will be vacant no longer. It will contribute to the local tax base, potentially keep adding employees and perhaps even more importantly keep a company that has shown itself over the past several years to be involved in community initiatives.
Adding new companies like Electrovaya is one way to grow our local economy. Helping existing companies like Rand to seize on new opportunities that can keep the company healthy and thriving for years to come is another.