Trade zone in works for Capitol Heights

Patricia Hayes-Parker, vice president of the PGCEDC International Business and Administration, Foreign Trade Zone 63, said duty can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for businesses.

"That could be a tremendous benefit to a company receiving many shipments per week," Hayes-Parker said.

The zone was moved to its new location in 2006 inside the Steeplechase 95 International Business Park in Capitol Heights because of its proximity to I-495. Hayes-Parker said ATAPCO Properties Inc. began construction on the Steeplechase Business Park in 2005. Within the next three years, more than 1 million square feet of warehouse space will be available to lease in the development, meaning new warehouse, managerial and office jobs, she said. She added that with new space would come more than $65 million in infrastructure improvements surrounding the business park.

"It's important in the county because Foreign Trade Zones are known to offer economic benefit," Hayes-Parker said. "It's the creation of new jobs. It's increasing the county's tax base. It's improving the infrastructure."

Hayes-Parker said there are four businesses in the zone with warehouse space, including Custom Touch Interiors and Restaurant Depot. Hayes-Parker said Restaurant Depot receives restaurant goods such as employee uniforms, chefs' aprons and silverware from South America and southeast Asia, and corporations place orders with Restaurant Depot for supplies. Companies housed in the Foreign Trade Zone receive an inventory exemption, meaning they are not charged extra money for holding supplies for an extended period of time.

Hayes-Parker said to receive activation, a company involved in importing, exporting or both must be located in the business park and receive its goods through the zone directly from a nearby port such as the Port of Baltimore. Businesses are now receiving imports from ports as far away as Florida which are then driven to the warehouse site. Hayes-Parker said there is no timeline yet as to when the U.S. Foreign Trade Zones Board will activate the zone.

Hayes-Parker said PGECDC is considering moving the African Trade Office, currently housed at the PGCEDC offices in Largo, to Steeplechase 95 Business Park and hopes to expand trade with the continent since other countries such as China and India already have a presence in Africa.

Hayes-Parker said because the United States' strength is in new technology, the PGCEDC can facilitate exporting help in developing information technology and water resource management across the Atlantic Ocean.

E-mail Natalie McGill at nmcgill@gazette.net.