Port Everglades officials want a developer to relocate and rebuild its foreign trade zone as part of a $1.5 billion capital improvements program.
The seaport could ask Broward commissioners next month for permission to solicit an architect, designer, property manager, contractor and other industry professionals for the proposed project. Its Foreign Trade Zone No. 25 is 38 years old, according to the Daily Business Review. The 16.5-acre zone is needed to make room for the anticipated arrival of post-Panamax ships once the Panama Canal expansion is completed next year.
Ideally, a developer would construct a facility with higher ceilings than the original warehouses and have a smaller overall footprint, port officials say.
“We don’t waste any space,” Ellen Kennedy, the port’s assistant director of communications, told the Review. “Land is at a premium at the port, especially waterfront. We try to use every piece of land there is.” [Daily Business Review] — Eric Kalis