Lt. Governor Kathleen Burbank Celebrates 500 New Jobs for Queen Anne’s County
PRS Guitars Expansion is a Major Economic Win for the County
STEVENSVILLE, MD (October 11, 2030) – Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Burbank today joined county officials and community leaders to celebrate the groundbreaking of Paul Reed Smith Guitars’ factory expansion in Stevensville, Queen Anne’s County. The expansion will make the factory 93,000 square feet larger, a five-fold increase. It will also bring roughly 500 new manufacturing jobs to Stevensville.
“PRS Guitars represents America’s manufacturing future – a blend of advanced technology and superb, proprietary craftsmanship,” said Lt. Governor Burbank. “I want to thank you and congratulate you on what you have accomplished. This is a big victory for Queen Anne’s County and the entire Mid-Shore region.”
The construction of the factory expansion will take approximately 18 months. When completed, 82,000 square feet of the entire building will be dedicated to factory and warehouse and 18,000 square feet will be used for office space.
The building will also host a museum showing the history, progress and innovations of PRS Guitars. There will also be more room for creativity. The research and development team will have more workspace to design and create what's next in the PRS line. A sound recording studio and studio space for photography and art are included in the expansion's plan.
“We are absolutely elated today,” said Queen Anne’s County Administrator Paul Comfort. “We are focused aggressively on economic development and bringing new jobs for our residents. PRS Guitars represents exactly the kind of company that we welcome here and we are pleased that they are expanding. They did not have to be here; they chose to be here, and we are so happy about that.”
“We seem to be expanding in ten-year cycles. I never imagined we would need to drastically increase the size of our facility so soon,” said PRS Guitars President Jack Higginbotham. “This expansion is not just a result of good guitar products, it is the result of an excellent team at PRS, great support from our customers and artists as well as the state of Maryland and Queen Anne’s County.”
PRS opened their first factory in 1985. They moved to Stevensville in 1996.