ORONO – Minutes after announcing that Microdyne Outsourcing Inc. had inked a seven-year lease with a local development organization, officials of the technical support company said the call center plans to add 300 new jobs by Christmas.

The addition would increase the state’s total number of Microdyne employees to nearly 1,000. Microdyne serves several large technology companies.

At a press conference at the Godfrey Drive facility, Microdyne President John Oakes said the company’s opportunity for growth centered on the quality of the employees.

“This year, Microdyne will have spent almost $20 million in the state of Maine,” Oakes said to local and state officials and more than 100 employees gathered in the lobby. “And we’re doing that because we have the best workers at Microdyne right here in the state of Maine.”

Owned by L-3 Communications and based in Torrance, Calif., Microdyne gives technical support for hardware and software products, and offers integrated product repair. Microdyne currently employs 460 people in Orono and more than 300 people in Augusta, Oakes said. It also has call centers in California and Indiana, each of which employs about 375 people.

The new jobs are expected to pay between $8.50 and $12 an hour to start, Oakes said. Full benefits are offered to every employee of the company, although he estimated only 60 percent take advantage of it, he said. Around 90 percent of the call center’s employees are full-time. Oakes added that the company is looking for all types of employees, including “older folks” and “people recently entering or returning to the work force.”

Oakes said before the conference that the company has found dedicated, hard-working people in its 14 months in Maine, and as a result, the company has transitioned 40 jobs from other call centers into the state.

Plans to expand took the spotlight away from the day’s planned announcement – the signing of a seven-year lease between Microdyne and the building’s owner, the Orono Economic Development Corporation.

A separate entity from the town, the OEDC built the facility in 2000 to house Envisionet Computer Services Inc., which went bankrupt last year. Since buying the company’s assets for $10.7 million in September of last year, Microdyne has operated as an at-will tenant in the 50,000-square-foot building, which was constructed through bonds secured by the town.

Under the lease agreement, Microdyne will pay $562,500 for the each of the first three years of the lease, $600,000 for the fourth year, and $650,000 each for the fifth, sixth and seventh years, according to Town Manager Gerry Kempen. Also as part of the lease, Microdyne will pay property taxes in the amount of $217,000.

Town Council Chairwoman Lianne Harris described the company as an essential part of the community’s economy and the cornerstone of the Maine Business Park, where it is located.

Signing the lease was a matter of finding a deal that was equitable to both Microdyne and OEDC, Oakes said.

OEDC President Arthur Comstock was excited about Microdyne’s commitment and said he was confident the company has the potential to realize significant growth.

“This is a strong company with strong leadership,” Comstock said, noting Microdyne is the town’s second-largest employer behind the University of Maine. “I think it’s a wonderful conclusion that the employees know a lease has been signed.”

The call center takes an average of 15,000 calls a day, according to recruiting specialist Mark Tanous.