The sun set upon sweeping fields of vegetable crops and farm workers irrigating the crops on the east side of Stewart Road in San Juan on Wednesday evening, but on the west side, the next generation of the Rio Grande Valley’s economy was under construction. 

The new Max Cold storage park will serve as a transit hub for produce grown in Mexico and trucked across the border through the Pharr International Bridge, which is only about four miles away, to grocery store shelves across North America. 

After more than two decades of building retail, commercial, and industrial projects for clients, a Pharr-based construction company is putting shovels in the ground for its own project. 

“One day, we asked ourselves a simple question, ‘Why not us? Why not build something that serves the industry but also directly contributes to the growth and prosperity of our own community?’” said Hector Saenz Jr., director of business operations at Member Construction.