Down the shoreline, information security company Real User Corp. will be creating 100 jobs over the next five years in the new Chesapeake Innovation Centre in Annapolis as the result of its November 2003 HQ move from Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia. In this case, the site selection process was reciprocal, as the CIC chose Real User from around 100 applicants wanting to be in its facility. For their part, Real User executives cited the state's goal of being a "hub for the nation's information assurance resources" as a primary factor in the decision.
      At the upper reaches of the Chesapeake Bay, adjacent to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Battelle is investing $22 million in its Eastern Science & Technology Center. Dietary supplement maker Nutramax Laboratories has expanded its R&D and manufacturing operations in Edgewood, also along APG's border, with a $1.2-million investment.
      The area is as ripe for moving products as it is for developing them. MedLine is building a $12-million DC in Aberdeen. And Rite Aid Corp. has expanded its warehousing by leasing 252,400 sq. ft. (23,448 sq. m.) in addition to its existing 890,000-sq.-ft. (82,681-sq.-m.) facility in Perryman, which is also seeing a $35-million investment from metal ceiling grid maker Worthington Armstrong Venture Enterprises.
      Maryland's Eastern Shore is also making strides. In Caroline County, near the end of the Choptank River, the town of Ridgley is welcoming development of the 70-acre (28-hectare) Mid-Shore Regional Business and Technology Park, which is receiving funds totaling $4.5 million from the state and $2.1 million from the federal government. The park is the third recent development in the county, following parks in Federalsburg (on the Marshyhope River) and Denton, also on the Choptank.
      With the help of the state's One Maryland financing program, designed to help distressed communities, the 120-acre (48.6-hectare) Federalsburg Industrial Park II is undergoing a $1.3-million expansion, adding 50 acres (20.2 hectares) for six new lots.
      ShoreGood Water Company, Inc. was the first new tenant in that expanded territory, opening a 20,000-sq.-ft. (1,858-sq.-m.), nine-employee purified water manufacturing and bottling operation in March 2003. ShoreGood built a new facility in part because existing buildings in Maryland and Delaware would have required substantial capital outlay to bring them up to FDA standards.
      After looking at several locations around the target market of the DelMarVa peninsula, ShoreGood President Dennis Kellough and then-vice president Jeff Johnson chose the Federalsburg site for their $2.5-million investment, not least because of the interest and help offered by the Town of Federalsburg and the Caroline Economic Development Corp.
      "The towns and counties have started to take it on as their own responsibility to draw people in, not relying solely on things the state is doing," Johnson told Site Selection in a 2003 interview. "When you come, you're welcomed with open arms, not like you're in a high industry area where you're just another blip on the radar screen. It was interesting to see that really come to light during our search."