food distribution company to build new albuquerque warehouse

Work could begin later this year on the building of a 260,000 square foot warehouse and shipping facility on the west side of Albuquerque.

The Fort Worth-based Ben E. Keith Company says it wants to build the facility on a 50-acre site off of Gallatin Place NW, to the southeast of the intersection of Interstate 40 and Unser Boulevard, and hopes to see the building completed sometime in 2021.

Warehousing and distributing any number of food and drink products across an extensive system that includes Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Alabama, the large Ben E. Keith Company had revenues last year of more than $5.5 billion.

The company, whose slogan for decades has been “Fresh From Keith’s,” supplies frozen foods, produce and groceries, among other items, to schools, hospitals, and restaurants across the country.

The company’s beverage division, meanwhile, sells such nationally popular Anheuser-Busch products as Budweiser, Bud Light, and Michelob Ultra.

Currently operating a 63,000 square-foot facility on Broadway Boulevard SE in Albuquerque, the Ben E. Keith Company’s new site will provide the company with enough room for any future expansion efforts.

Late last year members of the Bernalillo County Commission approved an industrial revenue bond of up to $80 million for the development of the new warehouse.

According to county documents, the company said it was requesting the bond funding in order to “facilitate its eventual goal to expand its regional operations to portions of Arizona and Colorado.”

By Garry Boulard

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