The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), will be relocating its currency printing operation from Washington DC to a new location on a 104-acre site in Prince George’s County.
The BEP is currently in the design stage of the $1.4 billion project and plans to wrap up design development by summer 2023.
Construction of the new printing plant — which is being managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Baltimore District —is anticipated to be completed by early 2027, with currency production starting mid-year.
The site at the Department of Agriculture’s Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), has been officially transferred to the Department of the Treasury, where it will house a new environmentally conscious production facility to print U.S. paper currency and other federal security products, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said in an April 27 statement.
“Over the past three years, the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the state of Maryland have worked closely on evaluating the potential for this Beltsville facility and determining how we can best work together to make this project successful,” Hogan said.. “Learning that the land has been transferred is another step in the right direction for moving this project forward. We look forward to seeing the Bureau and its hundreds of employees call Maryland home.”
The state and the Maryland Department of Commerce have supported the project since the Bureau announced Maryland was under consideration for the new site in 2019. The department has been involved with the selection process by coordinating conversations between the BEP and state agency partners, and facilitating the federal project’s needs to see how else the state can assist.
The state is also working with the federal government and Prince George’s County on alleviating traffic and improving several intersections located near the new site, including Maryland Route 201, the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, and Powder Mill Road, the statement says.
