Up To Date Laundry, Inc. announces plans to build an additional healthcare laundry processing facility in East Baltimore at Hollander Business Park with an anticipated grand opening of July 2017. Up To Date Laundry launched its business in Baltimore in 1946 servicing ships arriving at the Baltimore Harbor from New York and Virginia, as well as the retail clientele of the local community. “When we relocated to our DeSoto Road facility in 1999 our hopes were to one day reach 40% to 50% of its capacity. Well that ship has sailed, literally,” said Nancy Stair-Carter, CEO of Up To Date Laundry. Up To Date Laundry will have the potential to add an additional 72 million pounds of processing capacity and 400 new jobs once all phases of the buildout is complete, over the next 5 years.

Up To Date Laundry partnered with FRP Development Corp., a full service real estate Development Company specializing in land acquisition, construction, and property management of Sparks, Maryland to lease the 79,600 square foot manufacturing facility built in a Maryland Certified Enterprise Zone. “FRP is excited to have the opportunity to construct this laundry facility for such a storied company in Baltimore,” said David H. deVilliers, III, Vice President of FRP.

“We chose this location to continue our commitment to the City of Baltimore by providing jobs to areas that can benefit from additional employment opportunities and by building our facilities focusing on sustainability of the environment. We’re confident that we’ll be serving the healthcare community in the Mid-Atlantic region for another 70 years,” said Mark Carter, President of Up To Date Laundry.

Up To Date laundry is working closely with the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) and the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development in support of the goals associated with the ‘One Baltimore’ program to create jobs in East Baltimore. “We congratulate Up To Date Laundry on their continued success and, specifically, on this expansion,” said William H. Cole, President & CEO of BDC. “In addition to BDC’s loan program, Up To Date Laundry was also able to take advantage of our façade improvement grant, which is now city-wide. These programs exist to help businesses, like Up to Date Laundry, grow, thrive and create new jobs right here in Baltimore.”

This project is in conjunction with the expansion of laundry services that Up To Date Laundry provides to the Johns Hopkins Health System in support of the HopkinsLocal initiative. Launched in fall 2015, HopkinsLocal harnesses Johns Hopkins University and Health System’s economic activity to promote growth and employment in Baltimore. “This expansion is an example of what we hope will be accomplished through our HopkinsLocal commitments,” said Kenneth Grant, Vice President of General Services for Johns Hopkins Hospital and Vice President of Supply Chain Management for Johns Hopkins Health System. “In supporting the growth of this local woman-owned business, we are excited about the new jobs this will create for our communities most in need of job opportunities.”

Hospitals are under extreme pressure to cut costs due to the financial challenges brought on by the Affordable Care Act. Outsourcing of laundry services, the number one outsourced service by hospitals, is expected to increase as hospitals continue to cut cost and increase revenues by converting costly floor space from support services to revenue-generating healthcare services, according to Stanley S. Fishbein of LFC Capital Inc. The need to support the outsourcing demands of hospitals and healthcare facilities has sparked substantial growth in the healthcare laundry industry.