Mission Produce opens 262,000-square foot facility in Laredo

Avocado leader Mission Produce celebrated the opening of its largest forward distribution center, located in Laredo, Texas, on Sept. 29.

A M King provided property consulting for the Oxnard, California-based company and designed and built the 262,000-square foot facility, which includes cold storage, ripening, processing, and packaging space. The building is located in Laredo’s Pinnacle Industry Center on 32.6 acres adjacent to the Rio Grande River and the Mexican border. The new facility, which holds the distinction of being the largest avocado plant in North America, will allow the company to capitalize on the continued popularity of its signature product in the nation’s busiest land port.

The day’s festivities included an official ribbon cutting, visits from various state and local dignitaries, tours of the finished facility, and a live recording of “The Produce Industry Podcast with Patrick Kelly,” which highlighted roundtable discussions and a private tour with representatives from Mission Produce and A M King.

“A M King is the go-to builder in the produce industry — we rely on them to design and construct the advanced avocado-specific infrastructure that is pivotal to the success of our network,” said Steve Barnard, chief executive officer and founder of Mission Produce. “They successfully constructed the largest state-of-the-art facility we’ve done in North America, all while staying professional, on-time and on-budget. Their design of our cold storage facilities supports the efficiency and consistency of our high-quality fresh Hass avocados and mangos.”

The 12,000-square-foot second-floor mezzanine, which houses conference rooms, office areas and collaborative space with high end finishes, brings the total square footage of the facility to 274,000 square feet.

Mission Produce is the global leader in the worldwide avocado business. Since 1983, Mission Produce has been sourcing, producing and distributing fresh Hass avocados, and as of 2021, fresh mangos, to retail, wholesale and foodservice customers in over 25 countries.