Holly Poultry has selected Merritt Construction Services to build a new state-of-the-art, U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected poultry processing facility in Baltimore, Md. The new facility will allow the company to better serve its customers, expand its workforce and increase production.

The new 37,500 sq. ft. building will allow Holly Poultry to separate its processing business from its wholesale commodity business and also will provide an opportunity for the company to penetrate existing markets more deeply, explore new markets and accelerate growth.

In order to accommodate the company's requirements for additional processing capacity, the owners purchased a 17-acre site adjacent to the company's current facility located in the St. Paul’s Community of Baltimore.

"For the past several years, Holly's growth has been hampered by lack of space,” Zach Fine, vice president of Holly Poultry, said. “Now, working with Merritt, we are taking 17 acres of urban blight and turning it into a state-of-the-art processing facility."

Holly Poultry, a family-owned business, is a further processor of poultry products and a wholesale distributor of poultry, pork, beef and other refrigerated products. Holly has been in business in Baltimore since 1990, growing from 20 employees to more than 180, most of whom are city residents.

The expansion is expected to result in the hiring of an additional 100 full-time employees. This facility will also feature a new test kitchen and new equipment, including conveyors, marinating, sizing and deboning lines.

The facility is expected to be operational in January 2017. Holly Poultry then plans to renovate the existing facility, which will house the wholesale commodity division of the business.