page_title: Grupo Garza Ponce
section_title: 1960s–2010
hierarchical_section_title: Grupo Garza Ponce / Construction projects / 1960s–2010
caption_attribution_description: Estación Cuauhtemoc del metro de Monterrey México
context_page_description: Grupo Garza Ponce is a Mexican construction company based in Monterrey, Nuevo León. It was founded in 1966 by civil engineer José María Garza Ponce after he decided to take advantage of the boom in public works that Mexico was experiencing during that time. In the early 1980s, the company nearly went out of business due to the country's debt crisis; during that decade, they built the first private industrial park in Nuevo León, and later tapped into different markets by partnering with transnational companies in multimillion-dollar construction projects. They are currently one of the largest construction firms in Mexico and one of the leading ones in the northern part of the country.
  In the early 2000s, Grupo Garza Ponce had a strong business relationship with the Institutional Revolutionary Party based in Nuevo León, which granted them opportunities to participate in several construction projects, including the Puente de la Unidad bridge and the expansion of the Monterrey Metro. In the 2010s, they constructed industrial park projects in Nuevo León, the Mexico City Arena, and the football stadium Estadio BBVA Bancomer, home of Mexican top division team C.F. Monterrey.
context_section_description: The first construction of Grupo Garza Ponce was in 1968, when they created the Central de Abastos, the central supply center and wholesale market of Monterrey. In 1973, they partnered with Mexico's National Housing Fund for Workers (INFONAVIT) and created several houses and neighborhoods in Nuevo León. In 1978, Grupo Garza Ponce was responsible for the construction of the Abastos Estrella market in Monterrey. Two years later, they constructed the Galerías Monterrey, a major retail shop in the city. During the 1980s, they created the Monterrey Industrial Park, the state's first private industrial park. In 1982, they constructed Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) #33 in Monterrey.
  In May 1993, Grupo Garza Ponce partnered with Koll Company, a US-based construction company, to expand the facilities of the Monterrey Industrial Park and other areas in northeastern Mexico. Koll Company was doing this development pact via two of its business units, Koll International-Commercial, headquartered in Newport Beach, California, and Koll Company's Southwest division, based out of Dallas, Texas. Koll Company subdivision Koll Cushman Realty Mexico was also working to establish a stronghold in Mexico to help foreign companies looking to move to Mexico to open manufacturing facilities. In 1994, Grupo Garza Ponce partnered with Kohler in Mexico to create a 55,000 square metres (590,000 sq ft) sanitary production facility.
  In 1995, they partnered with Denso and constructed a 2,700 square metres (29,000 sq ft) automobile production facility in Apodaca, Nuevo León. Three years later, they announced a partnership with Prologis, and both of them constructed several industrial areas totaling 48,000 square metres (520,000 sq ft) in Mexico. In 2000, they partnered with Nokia to create an industrial park in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, of 6,500 square metres (70,000 sq ft). The following year, they worked with LG Electronics in Apodaca, where they constructed a 26,000 square metres (280,000 sq ft) industrial park. In 2003, Grupo Garza Ponce was chosen from a pool of 40 Mexican companies to create the Puente de la Unidad, a bridge in Monterrey.
  Between 2003 and 2009, Grupo Garza Ponce enjoyed a strong relationship with the Nuevo León government under the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Javier González Parás, the brother of former governor José Natividad González Parás, was a stakeholder of the company. He was involved with foreign companies like Bombardier and Siemens in several construction projects. The cost of this construction was estimated to be MXN$3.5 billion. Opposition party National Action Party (PAN) criticized the PRI for favoring Grupo Garza Ponce and the governor's brother. They said that Garza Treviño negotiated lower project costs to win the bid. Garza Treviño and Javier were linked to a bar known as Far West Rodeo, which was located in San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, and in San Antonio, Texas. In August 2005, Grupo Garza Ponce, Bombardier, and Siemens won the bid for the construction of Line 2 of Monterrey Metro, which was planned to be 8.4 kilometres (5.2 mi) long and span across seven different metro stations. The metro was opened to the public in October 2007. Two years later, they worked with Whirlpool to construct a 600,000 cubic metres (21,000,000 cu ft) facility in Mexico that helped facilitate the transportation logistics of the company.
  In 2010, Grupo Garza Ponce, along with Mexico's ambassador to Uruguay, Felipe Enríquez Hernández, signed a document requesting for power over the administration of 49 hectares (120 acres) of land owned by Desarrollos Punta Piedra, a company based in Tulum, Quintana Roo. According to documents in possession of the Garza Ponce family, the land was bought by them and Schiavon Magaña, another Monterrey-based businessman, in the 1950s. The land had several hotels and ejido farming units off the peninsula coast. Grupo Garza Ponce had the power to order the evacuation of hotels and farmers under the new decree. The company intended to use the land for construction expansions, but severa
caption: Interior view of Line 2 substation of Monterrey Metro, one of Grupo Garza Ponce's constructions
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