SOUTHAVEN, Miss. – Hillwood’s DeSoto Trade Center in Southaven, Miss. already offers some of the best advantages in the Memphis market, now the development will add another level of costs savings with its designation as Foreign Trade Zone No. 262.”Just the potential of receiving general purpose Foreign Trade Zone status was a factor in Hillwood’s ability to attract industry leaders Emerson and Conair to DeSoto Trade Center,” said Preston Herold, marketing director for Hillwood Investment Properties. “Having the FTZ in place will further boost DeSoto Trade Center as a premier international logistics center and help to bring more top companies and jobs to Southaven and DeSoto County. The Mississippi Congressional delegation, the DeSoto County Economic Development Council, DeSoto County and the city of Southaven were instrumental in bringing Foreign Trade Zone status to DeSoto Trade Center.”In July Hillwood reached an agreement to develop a 389,316-square-foot distribution center for Conair in DeSoto Trade Center. Last year Hillwood leased 365,000 square feet of the 846,066-square-foot DeSoto Trade Center, Building 1 to Emerson. 481,066 square feet is currently available for lease in DeSoto Trade Center, Building 1. An additional 2.2 million square feet of space can be delivered in the general purpose Foreign Trade Zone designated park.Located south of Church Road between Interstate 55 and Highway 51, DeSoto Trade Center provides outstanding access to Interstates 55 and 40; is within 10 miles of the FedEx hub and the UPS center at Memphis International Airport; and is close to the Memphis rail yard. As the largest suburban area of Memphis, DeSoto County also offers a large labor base. The development also presents low operating costs due to the low cost of real estate in the area, as well as aggressive incentives and streamlined approval processes offered by the state of Mississippi.”When you look at the international trade and commerce opportunity that the Memphis area offers, with the world’s largest cargo airport and the nation’s third largest inland port, Foreign Trade Zone status for DeSoto Trade Center just made sense,” Herold said.While in the Foreign Trade Zone, imported product is still technically outside the customs territory of the United States and doesn’t incur import duties until it leaves the zone and enters the commerce of the United States. Imported product and product held for export in the Foreign Trade Zone are also exempt from ad valorem inventory taxes. Foreign Trade Zones create an economic impact by helping generate jobs, private investment and ad valorem taxes on the real property.Hillwood purchased 93 acres for the first phase of DeSoto Trade Center, along with an option for an additional 125 acres, in November 2001. Hillwood, (www.hillwood.com) a Perot company, is ranked as one of the top commercial real estate developers in the country and the top residential developer in Dallas-Fort Worth. The company is best known for its development of the 15,000-acre AllianceTexas mixed-use project located 15 miles northwest of DFW International Airport and the $420-million American Airlines Center and Victory district in Dallas. In addition to DeSoto Trade Center, Hillwood’s newest projects are Tradepoint Business Park in Coppell, Texas, AllianceCalifornia in San Bernardino and Crossroads Trade Center in DeSoto, Texas.Contact: David Pelletier, Hillwood(817/224-6044)[email protected]
News Article | 10/13/2004