Texas Border Business
Pharr, TX – Pharr Mayor Ambrosio Hernandez, M.D., City of Pharr leaders, and the Pharr Economic Development Corporation hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for an avocado ripening and distribution facility for Index Fresh. The groundbreaking was held Tuesday, June 6, 2017 at 1100 W. Capote Central Ave. in Pharr.
Index Fresh is a worldwide marketer of avocados since 1914, sourcing from all major growing regions around the globe and will expand Pharr’s produce market by bringing a 60,000 Sq. Ft. avocado ripening and distribution facility.
Index Fresh ships a range of 60-120 truckloads of avocados from Mexico to the U.S. each week. The Pharr International Bridge crosses produce daily from Mexico to the United States; Index Fresh will be conveniently located at the forefront of the Pharr International Bridge so that produce trucks crossing the border can easily drop off produce and locals can pick up fresh avocados.
This facility will be Index Fresh’s second company-owned ripening center. The building is expected to open in late October or early November of this year.
Tippmann Innovation (TI), an award winning, specialty industrial cold storage builder, worked with Index Fresh for the development of this advanced pre-conditioning center. Tippmann worked with the engineering and management team at Index Fresh to design the state-of-the-art facility, with future plans to meet their increasing capacity requirements.
TI’s experience in designing food processing and cold storage facilities coupled with Index Fresh’s operational know how made for a great team. Both companies came together after a year of design discussions and produced a great facility. One of Tippmann’s mottos is to “Begin with the end in mind,” so when designing the building, the entire master site plan is considered.
The design of the current facility allows for Index Fresh to enjoy the ability to increase the size of the facility without slowing down production. Index Fresh has enjoyed tremendous growth over the last 5 years and selecting the site in Pharr, Texas was very important.
