Port Washington snags hatmaker from New Jersey

A headwear company with facilities in Manhattan and New Jersey now plans to hang its hat in Port Washington.

K & B Trading Corp., a seller of ball caps, beanies, bucket hats and other headgear, wants to open a headquarters and warehouse at 45 Seaview Blvd. A small portion of the 33,000-square-foot building will be initially leased to another company, executives said.

K & B, started in 2001 by owners Chul Kim and Sung Bae, sells about 3 million hats per year. Most are made in Vietnam and China and then shipped to the United States by K & B, Bae said Monday night when the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency granted tax breaks to his company for its move.

K & B sells hats under its own brand, Kbethos, and produces them for other companies. The hats are particularly popular with young consumers, from grade school through college, according to executives.

Bae said consolidating his headquarters and warehouse in one building "will make communications better." In addition, his commute and that of Kim will be much shorter because they both live in Oyster Bay Town.

The county's support for K & B's $4.8 million expansion includes up to $28,875 off the mortgage recording tax and a sales-tax exemption of up to $10,725. The company also will have its property tax rate frozen for three years followed by increases of 1.56 percent in each of the next 12 years.

In return for the aid, K & B has promised to create 20 jobs by 2019; it currently has eight full-time employees and five part time. Records show they earn, on average, $35,000 per year.

After the move to Port Washington later this year or early in 2016, manager Tim Lee said K & B would keep a small showroom in Manhattan's Garment District.

County Executive Edward Mangano, referring to the 15,000-square-foot K & B warehouse in Carlstadt, New Jersey, said he was thrilled the hat seller had decided to move to Nassau.

New Jersey economic developers and Gov. Chris Christie have been aggressively wooing Long Island companies.

The Island vied with the Garden State for at least 15 business expansions from 2011 through 2013, according to a Newsday survey of state agencies and the eight local industrial development agencies. The Island prevailed in most instances, giving tax breaks and other incentives -- valued at more than $70 million in the next 10 to 20 years -- to keep 10 companies.

Joseph J. Kearney, executive director of the Nassau IDA, has been on the front lines of the business location wars. Last night he was gleeful about K & B: "We stole one from Governor Christie because he's been out here trying to steal from us."