Growing demand for optimal freezer-cooler space by the food and pharma industry has spurred Crawford Hoying to partner with BGO Cold Storage to develop a 179,000-square-foot facility in Columbus, Ohio.
Contegra Construction Co. is building the flexible facility for single or multiple tenants. The development team is seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. It is slated for completion in the second quarter of 2024.
Located on a 14-acre site at 2865 Charter St., the facility is being constructed of insulated metal panels in the 141,824-square-foot freezer zone with a 50-foot clear height and tilt up concrete panels in the 32,346 square feet of space allotted for cold dock storage with a 30-foot clear height. The remaining square footage will include mechanical and finished office space.
The facility will be served by 18 to 29 drive through dock doors with food grade vertical storing levelers and upgraded shelters and seals. The freezer can accommodate 49,000 pallet positions. Parking is available for 39 trailers.
The cooler freezer is designed to facilitate exterior-only maintenance access and optimal energy efficiency with a state-of-the-art ammonia refrigeration system. Its ground mounted mechanical enclosure hosts an off-site fabricated and assembled infrastructure including the main electrical switch gear. Eight cold dock mounted penthouses accommodate isolated thermal zone flexibility ranging from -10 to 55 degrees F in the freezer, cooler and cold dock areas with remote temperature control for seasonal inventory adjustments.
Ammonia compressor heated glycol loops protect the freezer floors for additional energy savings. The freezer features a 10-inch-thick slab built on six inches of rigid insulation and a three-inch concrete mud-slab encapsulating the heated glycol system over cement stabilized soil providing ample floor capacity for dense and heavy pallet loading flexibility.
The freezer cooler is minutes from I-270, and I-70 and as well as two international airports, John Glenn Columbus International Airport and Rickenbacker International Airport (LCK).
