SAN ANTONIO, Texas— HVHC, Inc. announced yesterday that it will be opening a new facility here in late 2013. The 120,000-square-foot space will serve as a manufacturing and distribution center, the company’s second in the area and fifth in the U.S. overall. The new location will be located on the west side of San Antonio on Richland Hills Drive.

According to HVHC, the expansion serves as a part of the group’s “reshoring” efforts, or attempts to regenerate manufacturing jobs in the U.S. The new lab will generate 600 jobs in the San Antonio area, the company said, as well as custom produce more than 2 million pairs of eyeglasses annually for its Visionworks retail stores and customers nationwide.

“HVHC, at its core, is as committed to driving innovation and the creation of well-paying manufacturing jobs in the U.S. as it is to providing the highest quality vision products and services to our customers,” said David Holmberg, HVHC chief executive officer. “We are particularly proud to bring this new facility to San Antonio, the home base of our company, and a city that HVHC is dedicated to support in its vision of economic growth and redevelopment.”

HVHC’s new facility is a continuation of the group’s support of San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro’s SA2020 development initiative for the city. The company relocated the corporate headquarters of Visionworks, its national optical retailer, and the New York-based operations of Davis Vision, its managed vision care arm, to San Antonio in 2012. The company also plans to expand its downtown headquarters by leasing additional space at the IBC Centre, creating 150 additional jobs in San Antonio’s center city.

“We are pleased to partner with HVHC to bring 750 more jobs to San Antonio. HVHC, with its deep-rooted history in San Antonio, has committed to our SA2020 goals of enhancing our community’s economic competitiveness and creating a vibrant downtown by bringing good jobs to their new manufacturing facility and headquarters. We look forward to our continued partnership with HVHC,” said Mayor Julián Castro.

HVHC’s Davis Vision also operates leading-edge optical manufacturing and distribution centers outside Philadelphia and two in New York State. In total, the five facilities will manufacture 75 percent of all HVHC eyeglasses annually, which is more than six million pairs, and provide a total of more than 1,500 jobs.

The new San Antonio location is in support of HVHC’s previously announced plan to open 50 Visionworks locations annually starting in 2013, as reported in VMail last year.