Firm’s move to city could attract business

Thursday, March 16, 2006

County and state officials lauded engineering consulting firm Greenhorne & O’Mara’s decision to keep its national headquarters in Prince George’s County.

Gov. Robert Ehrlich Jr. and County Executive Jack Johnson said the fact that the company stayed spoke to the region’s economic vitality that may lure other businesses to the area.

The two leaders were among a host of government officials and business leaders to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony March 3 at Greenhorne & O’Mara’s new $11.5 million, three-story building in the Konterra at Sweitzer Lane office park, which the company relocated to from Greenbelt last December.

‘‘They have the ability to make the decision to have their headquarters located in a number of the other places where they do business,” Johnson said of Greenhorne & O’Mara, which has a total of 16 offices in seven states. ‘‘Their decision is a huge testament to them as far as what they feel to be the future of Prince George’s County.”

Johnson said the move tells companies the county ‘‘is a good place to do business.” Ehrlich also called retaining the firm as a valuable marketing tool.

‘‘This building represents a decision by a major, successful Maryland company to stay in Maryland,” Ehrlich said. ‘‘In making that decision you’ve made a loud statement about the future of Prince George’s County and the future of Maryland.”

Founded in Greenbelt in 1955, Greenhorne & O’Mara has advised private and government clients on major projects such as FedEx Field and the Greenbelt Metro station, the investigation into the World Trade Center collapse and floodplain mapping in North Carolina. The company’s work includes civil engineering, hazard mitigation, security, water resources and mapping.

President and CEO John Healey said the studies by the company, as well as intangibles, proved Laurel to be an advantageous location.

‘‘Having been here for 56 years, there’s a lot of business relationships we have in the area,” he said. Healey said the new headquarters’ proximity to Washington and Baltimore, two major airports and the planned Konterra business campus also influenced the decision.

Greenhorne & O’Mara is the first national building to be headquartered at the Konterra development, which the real estate company hopes will become nationally recognized as a model mixed-use project.

‘‘They fit perfectly with our overall development scheme,” said Tate Armstrong, president of Konterra Realty. ‘‘We gave them an opportunity for a location that they could in a commercial sense reside in for a long time.”

The engineering firm’s 64,900-square foot building at 6110 Frost Place is one of two facilities at the Konterra at Sweitzer Lane office park, which eventually will be home to a total of 250,000-square feet of space.

Greenhorne & O’Mara signed a 12-year lease with owner 1325 G Street Associates LLP. The company has 200 employees at the headquarters. It has 650 employees nationwide, with offices in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.

E-mail Steve Earley at searley@gazette.net.