A Remedy for Route 1: More Ice Cream

Plant Expansion Hailed for Jobs

On the line of the original plant, Olusola Lawanson inspects Haagen-Dazs products. The expansion, being dedicated this week, cost $210 million. (Photos By Katherine Frey -- The Washington Post)

Officials are hailing the completion of a major expansion of an ice cream manufacturing plant in North Laurel as a landmark in their efforts to revitalize the Route 1 corridor.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was scheduled for today to celebrate the $210 million expansion of the Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream Laurel Operations Center, which is credited with expanding employment.

"We've brought on about 450 new employees in the last 18 months, and we will probably be adding another 150 or so in the next 12 to 18 months," said Peter Laport, project director and factory manager. That would bring the number of workers to more than 900.

Work on the exterior of the building is being completed this week.

The 705,000-square-foot ice cream plant, called one of the largest in the world, now has the capacity to produce 58 million gallons of ice cream and millions of frozen snacks each year, company officials said. Dreyer's brands include Edy's, Nestlé and Haagen-Dazs.

Eager to help secure the new investment at Dreyer's, Howard County officials agreed to defer $1 million in property taxes for four years and expedite $1 million in road and infrastructure improvements, said Richard W. Story, chief executive of the Howard County Economic Development Authority.

County residents will not have to wait long to reap the benefits of the plant, at Route 1 and Whiskey Bottom Road, he said.

"In two years," Story said, "the investments will be recovered" in new tax revenue and spending in the community.

With a pool of workers and public transit serving the area, "there couldn't be a better example of what the revitalization of an older commercial corridor can do," added Aaron Greenfield, president and chief executive of the nonprofit Anne Arundel Economic Development Corp.

The project was not without its challenges. In 2004, before work could get underway, the California-based company and Howard County paid dozens of families $10,000 each to abandon their homes at the 32-acre Pfister's mobile home park, which occupied land needed for the expansion. Company and county officials helped the families move.