CARDONE Distribution Center Breaks Ground

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CARDONE Distribution Center Breaks Ground

Cardone Industries Owner and Executive Vice Chairman Michael Cardone
Cardone Industries Owner and Executive Vice Chairman Michael Cardone

New center to create more than 1,000 jobs

Construction on the largest industrial project in Harlingen history will begin soon following a groundbreaking ceremony on Dec. 4. The 920,000-square-foot CARDONE Industries distribution center is expected to be completed by December 2018, with some operations to start as early as the summer of 2018.

With a core processing facility in Harlingen for the past 10 years, CARDONE is the largest privately held automotive parts remanufacturer in the world. The $50 million expansion in Harlingen is expected to create more than 1,100 jobs in the first 10 years with a payroll of $327.7 million.

“We went through an extensive process to try and find the right place to put our distribution center,” said Michael Cardone, owner and executive vice chairman. “Not only was it financial, not only was it logistically strategic, but the people and the city was very important to us. As we went through that process we felt very strongly … that Harlingen was going to be the place for us.”

Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell opened the groundbreaking ceremonies by welcoming the CARDONE expansion. “I think it says a lot about our workforce that CARDONE chose Harlingen,” he said.

Other dignitaries that addressed the crowd were Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., his son Rep. Eddie Lucio III, Rep. Oscar Longoria, Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino Jr. and Harlingen EDC Board President Dr. Gilbert Leal.

“As a Valley community we are very proud of the new state-of-the-art distribution center,” Sen. Lucio said. “The cutting edge distribution center is expected to have nearly $128 million in taxable sales and purchases and because it is projected that over $237 million will be added to our local tax rolls due to the facility’s assets. Today’s groundbreaking is a textbook example of economic and regional development.”

The CARDONE distribution center, located in the Harlingen Industrial Park on FM 509, is intended to support growing production at the company’s manufacturing facilities, one of which is located in Matamoros.

Construction on the facility came after more than a year of negotiations between CARDONE and the Harlingen Economic Development Corporation, as well as Cameron County, which recently approved a $1.7 million tax abatement agreement as part of an incentive package.

For more photos from the groundbreaking, visit the VBR photo gallery.

Cardone Industries officials and local dignitaries turned shovels of dirt for the groundbreaking ceremony.
Cardone Industries officials and local dignitaries turned shovels of dirt for the groundbreaking ceremony.

George Cox is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years experience as a newspaper writer and editor. A Corpus Christi native, he started his career as a reporter for The Brownsville Herald after graduating from Sam Houston State University with a degree in journalism. He later worked on newspapers in Laredo and Corpus Christi as well as northern California. George returned to the Valley in 1996 as editor of The Brownsville Herald and in 2001 moved to Harlingen as editor of the Valley Morning Star. He also held the position of editor and general manager for the Coastal Current, a weekly entertainment magazine with Valleywide distribution. George retired from full-time journalism in 2015 to work as a freelance writer and legal document editor. He continues to live in Harlingen where he and his wife Katherine co-founded Rio Grande Valley Therapy Pets, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising public awareness of the benefits of therapy pets and assisting people and their pets to become registered therapy pet teams.

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