There were delays. There were frustrations. But Mei Xu kept pushing. Anne Arundel County stands to benefit greatly from Xu’s determination. The owner of Rockville-based Chesapeake Bay Candle Co. is shifting some manufacturing operations from Vietnam to a former liquor warehouse in Glen Burnie.

Chesapeake Candle signed a lease for 117,200 square feet of space in April 2010. Xu’s company, which boasts $50 million in annual revenue, will use the plant at 226 Dover Road in the Baymeadow Industrial Park as a production facility for its candles. It distributes candles at U.S. retail outlets that ...