Portacool, LLC hosted a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday morning, Feb. 26 at their new global headquarters location in Center, which is adjacent to the company's manufacturing facility on FM 2468.

A representation of Portacool executive and employees, along with City of Center and Shelby County Chamber of Commerce officials and citizens were on hand for the event.

The new 13,500-square-foot corporate office will house approximately 45 employees including the executive team, sales, marketing, customer service, accounting, IT, sourcing and logistic departments.

The building will be built under the direction of local firms including Curtis Archtecture and Kingham Construction-the lead developer/contractor. Construction is slated for completion in October 2015. 

Portacool has been manufacturing evaporative cooling solutions distributed world-wide for 25 years.

Pictured for the ceremonial "first turn of soil" Thursday are (left to right) Bob Kingham, Kingham Construction, lead developer/contractor; Dana Escuenalas, project manager; Ben Wulf, CEO Portacool; Rob Kennedy, CFO Portacool; and David Chadwick, City of Center Mayor.