(Seguin) — Yukon Ventures, a Texas based leader in cold storage development has announced its second project in the state of Texas and that location happens to be here in Seguin.
Josh Schneuker, executive director of the Seguin Economic Development Corporation, says the facility will be built on property adjacent to Tyson Foods. He says its location near the intersection of I-10 and State Highway 46, centers it to better service the explosive population growth in Central Texas.
“Seguin’s position on 1-10, our ability to have those points of access to San Antonio and Austin markets, you know Yukon really saw it as a no brainer to locate here in Seguin,” said Schneuker.
SEDC officials say the project will not only have the unique ability to service both Austin and San Antonio within less than a one-hour drive but also allow trips to the Houston Ports and the US-Mexico border in less than a three-hour drive in either direction.
Schneuker, says the cold storage industry is vital to meeting the demands of manufacturers from all over and looks forward to welcoming Yukon to Seguin.
“It’s like a refrigerator or your freezer but on a much larger scale. So, you have all these food manufacturers in the region that are making their product and a lot of times, that product needs to be refrigerated before it is shipped to HEB or another grocer to be bought by the consumer. That facility is kind of that warehouse for that type of product so it’s kind of a big walk-in refrigerator or freezer depending on the top of product but the reason why it is so important is because of the growth that we are seeing really throughout South and Central Texas right now. We’ve got all these people coming in. With all those people, that means more demands for a ton of consumer type products and that includes food, and we have to have a facility that can properly store that food before it gets to its end point whether that be a grocery store or to another location,” said Schneuker.
With populations surging in double digit percentages, and an abundance of new food production facilities, this area’s public cold storage capacities have remained uniquely unchanged for decades.
Schneuker says with a location up north, the Seguin plant will service the bottom half of the state.
“Their first Texas project actually broke ground a year, a year and a half ago now up in Burleson Texas so that was their first Texas project up in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Cold storage is just growing like crazy so communities like Burleson and Denton, they all have these rapidly growing clusters of cold storage facilities but when you look here in Central and South Texas, San Antonio/Austin, there hasn’t been a whole lot of activity related to cold storage but as our region continues to just blossom with new population coming in, Yukon saw the opportunity to better serve this market and that’s kind of what led them to look at Seguin,” said Schneuker.
Schneuker says this particular cold storage facility will be first of its kind with nothing like it in the New Braunfels, San Marcos or immediate area.
“The closest facility is probably going to be in San Antonio so even out in this area, just kind of a dedicated cold storage facility, there’s not really any options really between San Antonio and Austin so this is kind of very unique and a very special project,” said Schneuker.
Upon completion, the roughly 170,000 SF state-of-the-art facility will provide storage for 21,000 pallets and 600 blast freezing positions. Unlike the existing vintage facilities in the region, this new project, designed by ARCO Design/Build, will allow for tremendous efficiencies for the operator. The project is also immediately available for leasing opportunities.
SEDC officials say the objective is to hopefully break ground this fall so that it will be ready for operation in late 2022.