Despite a challenging economy, a Frederick -based firm is finding success in developing projects in the region.Ridgecrest Investments is working with the City of Cumberland to develop the 340,000-square-foot former Memorial Hospital.
John Laughlin, principal of the firm, said the hospital was emptied of patients Nov. 21.
"This will be one of the largest and most complex redevelopment sites in Western Maryland," Laughlin said.
Projects of this size are not new to Laughlin. His firm owns the 500,000-square-foot Interwoven Mills complex in Martinsburg, W.Va., "which we are developing into a 'city within a city,' " Laughlin said.
It is one of the largest redevelopment projects in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.
The company is doing so much business in Hagerstown, Laughlin said, "we actually consider Hagerstown our principal place of business."
Ridgecrest has become Hagerstown's largest redeveloper, Laughlin said, as the firm owns more than a dozen large buildings and owns four operating businesses.
As for doing business in the current economy, Laughlin said a keys is to do deals that do not require bank financing.
"Offer facility space or products that are 'value priced,' well below the competition," Laughlin said.
"Make sure your products are at the top or the bottom of the quality-price scale, never in the middle," he said.
And make sure the product is "special" in the customer's mind, Laughlin said.
In Frederick , the company owns the 200,000-square-foot Airpax Building near Frederick Municipal Airport, Frederick Indoor Sports Center and the historic Tyler-Spite House on Church Street.
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