HAMPSTEAD — The future of Black & Decker's Hampstead plant is uncertain after the company announced a merger this week with Stanley Works to create Stanley Black & Decker.

About 125 people work at the Hampstead powder metal plant, 626 Hanover Pike, making parts for the company's tools, according to Roger Young, Black & Decker spokesman.

"It is too early to tell," Young said of the potential impact on the Hampstead facility.

"In terms of manufacturing, there is not a lot of redundancy," between Stanley and Black & Decker, he said.

But while Young could not commit on the future of the plant, he said the focus of job reductions will likely be in corporate positions, which are mainly in the company's Towson headquarters.

This week Young said about 250 corporate jobs at Towson "are likely to the eliminated," but other workers may be safe, because the company will retain its power tools division headquarters here.

Officials of both companies say the $4.5 billion stock merger, announced Nov. 2, is expected to benefit both firms.

The Hampstead plant broke ground in 1951 with an initial 121,000 square feet of space. At that time, former Black & Decker president and co-founder Alonzo Decker pitched in at the ground breaking.

In 1965, Black & Decker added 240,000 square feet to the space as it moved manufacturing from Towson to Hampstead. The space was renovated in 2004.

In its heyday in the early 1980s, the company employed about 2,000 workers at its Hampstead plant.

Distribution moved in 1998 to Fort Mills, S.C., making the 1965 expansion obsolete, as 250,000 square feet was no longer needed.

Now, Black & Decker leases a 150,000 square feet in the warehouse that is owned by BTR Realty, according to Paige Sunderland, business development manager with Carroll County's Department of Economic Development.

Today, several other companies now occupy land and building space previously owned by Black & Decker in Hampstead.

Those companies include Jos A. Bank Clothiers — which operates 350,000 square feet of space — as well as Fairlawn Tool and Dye, Jill's Jams, Mixes and More and The Training Room, Sunderland said.

The merger of Black & Decker and Stanley was not prompted by the lagging economy, Young said.

"It took a while to reach an agreement, but both boards realized it was beneficial to both companies," he said.

Stanley Black & Decker will be 50.5 percent owned by Stanley shareholders and 49.5 percent owned by Black & Decker shareholders.

The transaction is expected to take until the first half of 2010 to be finalized, and will create a company with an estimated annual revenue of $8.4 billion.

Reporter Loni Ingraham contributed to this story.

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