Multi-Tenant Cold Storage Flex Facility
This 298,000 square-foot cold storage warehouse at the Port of Wilmington was designed for multi-tenant flexibility, giving each tenant the ability to operate its own cold rooms independently across a wide temperature range of -10°F to +55°F. To support that flexibility, Innovative delivered a system built around a prefabricated mechanical house, evaporative condensers, and mini-penthouse evaporators connected to a centralized ammonia refrigeration system sized at about 700 TR.
A key design priority was to maximize usable site space without compromising reliability or service access. To achieve that, the project used a roof-mounted skid package and mechanical house, freeing up valuable ground-level area while keeping the refrigeration infrastructure accessible and organized. The result is a layout that supports efficient operations, easier maintenance, and the flexibility to handle both refrigerated and frozen storage within one building.
Because the facility was designed for multiple tenants, system control and visibility were critical. Each storage space can operate independently, allowing operators to adjust room conditions based on tenant needs instead of locking the building into one use. The project also included power monitoring and metering for tenant billing, along with an integrated Building Management System that connects refrigeration with high-speed doors, dock doors, HVAC, fire systems, and utility metering. This level of integration gives operators better control over energy use, building coordination, and daily performance.
During construction, the coastal Wilmington location required careful coordination around jobsite conditions, weather, and sequencing of installation. Despite those challenges, the team executed the work on an accelerated timeline, using the prefabricated mechanical-house approach to streamline installation and reduce field complexity.
The facility was completed in about ten months and delivered on schedule and on budget, meeting all project requirements and customer goals. The finished system provides an overall flexible, high-capacity cold storage platform for multi-tenant distribution. It combines centralized ammonia refrigeration, convertible room temperatures, and integrated controls in a solution designed for performance, visibility, and long-term operational value.
