Cold Storage Expansion: Growing 75% Without Triggering New Compliance Requirements
Growing an existing cold storage facility is rarely as simple as adding square footage. The real challenge is building new capacity onto an operational facility without slowing it down. Add a compressed timeline on top of that, and you’ve got a complex project on your hands.
That was the assignment for a facility expansion in Denton, Texas: roughly 135,000 additional square feet of convertible space, new blast freezing capacity, and a refrigeration system that needed to integrate seamlessly with equipment already in service. Innovative had originally served as the design-build refrigeration contractor for this facility, and in a vote of confidence built on the project’s success, the customer returned for the expansion.
A Cold Storage Project Built on Continuity
The customer's decision to bring Innovative back wasn't a hard one. As the original design-build contractor for the facility, Innovative already had deep familiarity with the existing refrigeration system, controls architecture, and operational requirements. This offered major benefits in terms of engineering, cost effectiveness, and the timeline required for the expansion.
That familiarity also translated into cost efficiency. Because Innovative's mechanical, electrical, and controls capabilities are vertically integrated under one team, the customer avoided the overhead of managing multiple contractors.
For the Denton facility, this meant the continuity of equipment, continuity of controls, and continuity of functionality, even as the facility nearly doubled in size.
Matching Equipment While Improving Access
To keep the facility running without interruption, Innovative designed the expansion around prefabricated mini-penthouse refrigeration units that visually and functionally matched the facility's existing equipment.
The units use a side-throw configuration, positioned at dock level rather than elevated overhead. This layout simplifies piping runs and improves technician access for maintenance. From the perspective of a facility operator, this configuration is a win for the long-term.
Engineering a Custom Refrigeration Solution Within a Small Footprint
One room in the expansion required a highly customized solution with tight temperature tolerances and limited space for evaporators.
Innovative's engineering team designed a single mini-penthouse unit housing two coils, allowing the room to run a sequential defrost strategy. Under this setup, one coil defrosts while the other continues cooling, keeping the space within tolerance throughout the cycle.
Beyond the temperature control benefit, housing both coils in a single prefabricated unit reduces installation and shipping costs, since the whole assembly ships and installs as one unit. It's a solution that solves a specific technical requirement while simplifying installation. This is the kind of detail that comes from engineering a system around a facility's operating needs, rather than defaulting to a standard configuration.
Nearly Doubling Capacity While Staying Under Compliance Threshold
The expansion's low-charge ammonia refrigeration system is the technical achievement at the center of this project. Despite expanding the facility's refrigerated footprint by approximately 75%, the completed system keeps total ammonia charge under 10,000 lbs.
From the perspective of many facility operators, that threshold is synonymous with regulatory burden. Facilities operating above 10,000 lbs of anhydrous ammonia fall under OSHA's Process Safety Management standard and EPA's Risk Management Program, triggering a significantly more involved compliance framework. Designing this expansion to stay under that threshold, even while nearly doubling the facility's capacity, gave the customer substantial added capacity without adding new regulatory requirements.
Expanding with Minimal Facility Downtime
But the best engineering in the world doesn't help if it disrupts a facility that can’t afford downtime. Minimizing the operational impact was one of the project’s biggest challenges.
Construction, piping tie-ins, and controls integration all had to happen without disrupting the facility. The team engineered the tie-in work so that the connection between new and existing systems could be completed on time, minimizing downtime to a tightly scheduled window.
Why Integration Expertise Matters
A facility expansion like Innovative’s recent project in Denton, Texas depends on a team that understands how new equipment, controls, and piping integrate into a system that's already running. Innovative's vertically integrated approach, with mechanical, electrical, controls, and service under one team, means an expansion can be engineered as a single, coordinated system from the start.
That same industrial refrigeration expansion expertise is what allows a project like this to reach completion without disrupting facility operations. And as every facility operator knows well, downtime means lost product, missed shipments, and costs that add up fast.
Project Results
- Added approximately 135,000 sq ft of convertible refrigerated space
- Added new blast freezing capacity
- Expanded the facility's refrigerated footprint by approximately 75%
- Kept total ammonia charge under 10,000 lbs
- Completed piping and controls tie-ins without impacting facility operations
- Delivered on time and on budget
Planning a Facility Expansion?
Whether you're adding capacity, integrating new equipment with an existing system, or exploring how to expand without crossing a regulatory threshold, Innovative can help you design an approach that fits your facility's specific needs. Contact our team to start the conversation.
