June 21, 2006

Hand Held Products Announces New Facility In Lancaster County

High-Tech Company To Build 40,000 sf Facility In Bailes Ridge Business Park

Lancaster County, SC --  Hand Held Products Inc. is preparing to move its Charlotte headquarters to northern Lancaster County. The company is investing $8 million in a 40,000-square-foot production facility in the Bailes Ridge development that is slated for completion in March. The company will be able to expand the building to 80,000 square feet.

Hand Held Products, which has 120 employees, expects to add 20 workers initially and up to 150 employees over a five-year period.

Founded in 1972, Hand Held Products is a manufacturer of image-based data-collection and communication technology.

"The success of Hand Held Products can be attributed to literally hundreds of aspects from our technology innovation to satisfied customers. However, the most important success factor is the associates we employ," says Kevin Jost, chief executive of Hand Held. "By opening up our newest facility in Lancaster County, we're able to provide the most state-of-the-art facility and resources to the area's best and brightest."

Company officials decline comment on the amount of incentives from South Carolina it is receiving. Hand Held Products is currently at 7520 E. Independence Blvd.

S.C. counties south of Charlotte have used a range of tax incentives to help land economic-development projects in recent years. But 2005 saw an increasing number of those projects lured from only a few miles away in Charlotte, with white-collar jobs migrating across the state line.

Among the recent relocations: HSBC Mortgage Services Inc. is moving its headquarters and 464 jobs to northern Lancaster County from Charlotte's SouthPark area. The company expects its new facility in Lauth Group's EdgeWater Corporate Center will grow to 900 jobs. Local and state incentives were part of the equation in the company's move, with total inducements estimated at $20 million.