On Friday, Grupo Bafar cut the ribbon on its new U.S. headquarters in El Paso’s historic Segundo Barrio, formally moving the Mexican food giant’s regional import-export and cold-storage operations into the neighborhood. Company leaders and local officials said the complex will house both refrigerated and regular storage and will offer brokerage services to area food companies that do cross-border business. City and county leaders at the event cast the opening as an economic anchor they hope will spark more investment in the long-neglected Southside.
According to KVIA, Bafar executives described the facility as the company’s main import-export hub between the United States and Mexico and said it will provide cold-chain logistics and brokerage services for other local firms. The station reported that company leadership and crews were on site for Friday’s ceremony and noted that ABC-7 planned extended coverage from the event.
The ribbon-cutting marks the culmination of a project that city records show began with a roughly 21 million dollar investment approved in 2023. Per a City of El Paso press release, the City Council backed a performance-based incentive package of 715,771 dollars and the County Commission signed off on nearly 166,000 dollars to help underwrite the development, which the city says will source about 95 percent of its power from solar.
Where the HQ sits and what it contains
The U.S. headquarters and cold-storage complex sit on the renovated Kasco Structures site on East Fourth Avenue, listed in local reporting as 1600 E. Fourth Ave. As reported by El Paso Inc., the property includes roughly 61,000 square feet of warehouse and administrative space and was built by Catamount Constructors.
Jobs and trade links
City documents and company statements say the investment will create about 120 full-time jobs, with starting wages reported at 17.65 dollars per hour, while retaining roughly 155 existing positions in El Paso. The county has also said some freight will be routed through the Tornillo–Guadalupe port of entry, tying the site into the cross-border logistics network that local leaders argue will grow with nearshoring trends, according to the City of El Paso…