This series is part of a new blog series about Frederick County businesses that grow and expand. It is a snapshot of Frederick County business success stories. Check back each month for more businesses that grow in Frederick County or read last month's business stories here.
AstraZeneca (formerly known as MedImmune)
MedImmune was established in Frederick in 1996 with 90,500 SF and then expanded to 150,00 SF in 2001. In October 2005, MedImmune announced a multi-phase expansion of its biologics manufacturing facility a $250M expansion to an existing 225 employee operation and increased the manufacturing floor space to 710,000 SF. In April 2007, AstraZeneca purchased MedImmune for $15B. MedImmune is best known for its production of FluMist, a nasal-spray flu vaccine and Synagis a treatment that prevents RSV in babies, which is manufactured at the Frederick site. In 2006, MedImmune was given a $170M contract from the US Dept of HHS to develop culture-based seasonal and pandemic vaccines and then in 2009, the HHS awarded them a $90M contract for the manufacturing of a vaccine for Influenza A(H1N1).
Most recently in 2014, a 40,000 SF expansion at $200M was announced with 300 additional employees. They currently have 595 employees. AstraZeneca’s Frederick manufacturing center is the largest biologics manufacturing facility within the company’s global network and portfolio of assets, and a worldwide industry leader in cell culture manufacturing.
Richard B. Rudy, Inc
Founded in 1938 by Mr. Richard B. Rudy, the company began using a single truck and stainless steel cans to provide milk transportation services to dairies for local area farms in Frederick County. They incorporated in 1960 and remained in the dairy industry until 2002. Diversification into liquid sugars and finished food-grade items came along in the mid 1970’s. In the mid 1980’s, they moved from their Linden Ave location and bought 11-1/2 acres and now their office complex includes a five bay, full service shop, an automated tank wash facility with three pull-through bays, as well as dry storage and cold storage warehousing. Now 73 plus years and three generations later, they employ 80 people and hire new people each year. Today they serve the food industry throughout the east coast to the mid west and beyond and have had many major clients such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Hershey Chocolates, Domino Sugar and Thomas English Muffins for over 40 years.
Morgan-Keller
Launched as a residential home builder in 1955 by Ralph Morgan and Lawrence Keller in Wolfsville, MD privately held Morgan-Keller Construction Co. is the area’s largest commercial construction company with some 185 employees.
In the early days, Morgan-Keller was responsible for the residential construction of College Estates in Frederick and Woodlea and Woodmere in Middletown. By 1965, Morgan-Keller had started performing commercial work, including pre-engineered metal buildings. In the mid-1970’s, Morgan-Keller began building retirement communities like Homewood in Williamsport, MD. In 1980, they decided to move away from custom residential construction and focus on commercial, industrial, management and multi-family. About 9 years ago, they opened a satellite office in Columbia as they expanded their reach in MD.
The company touts a range of deliveries including Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Center at the Riverside Business Center, Carroll Creek Linear Park, the Frederick Memorial Hospital renovation and the Frederick National Cancer Laboratory as examples of its work. Their portfolio of projects is throughout MD, PA, VA and WV. The company reports they are in a hiring upswing and currently hiring for the field.
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is the nation's largest mortgage lender and the County’s 5th largest employer.
In 1989, Prudential Home Mortgage moved to 270 Technology Park and in 1996 was acquired by Norwest Mortgage. In 2000, Wells Fargo acquired Norwest and moved into the location, expanding to five buildings. The company had as many as 1,900 employees during the refinance boom of 2003 to 2004 where they stated at the time that 80% of their business then was refinancing. When that died down, the staff level fell to about 1,200. In 2007, employees were back up to about 1,700 when they moved into a brand new $30 million dollar 310,000 SF facility. Prior to moving into the building at 8480 Stagecoach Cir off Monocacy Blvd, operations were scattered throughout six buildings.
In 2013, Wells Fargo added 60K SF to their operations in Frederick and today, they employ nearly 1,900 people in Frederick County.
Orases
Orases, an information technology company, was established in
Frederick County in 2002 with 3 employees. Since that time, they have grown to
14 employees and gone from 750 SF in the City to 3000 of space in Frederick
County. They are a recipient of the Best Places to Work in Frederick County
last year and have major national clients such as: National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball
and Johns Hopkins.
