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ARCO National Construction
Design-Build Solutions for Purpose-Built Cold Storage
Brian Westre, VPCold storage construction leaves little margin for misalignment. Structural framing, refrigeration systems, vapor barriers, electrical capacity and product flow must function as one coordinated environment from the outset. When these elements are developed independently, incompatibilities surface during construction, driving redesign, cost escalation and schedule disruption.
How does ARCO’s design-build model reduce construction risk and schedule disruption?
ARCO National Construction is structured to address those variables before construction begins. Its design-build model places design, construction, cost management and scheduling within one accountable team from planning through commissioning. Rather than advancing a completed drawing set and reconciling systems in the field, ARCO evaluates how the facility will operate and provides conceptual designs before major capital is committed.
“ARCO’s design-build approach gives clients a single point of responsibility from concept through completion, driving smarter decisions early, reducing risk, and delivering greater cost and schedule certainty,” says Brian Westre, VP.
For operators, that responsibility becomes tangible during preliminary planning. Instead of committing to a fixed configuration, ARCO examines layout options, pallet density targets, clear-height requirements, temperature zoning, refrigeration strategies, power demand and future expansion pathways while decisions remain flexible. Cost modeling progresses alongside these evaluations, allowing alternatives to be compared before development advances. By clarifying scope and infrastructure demands early, owners move forward with clearer financial visibility and fewer midstream adjustments.
Faster Start-Up Through Structured Planning
A renovation for Alpine Food Distributing in Vernon, California, illustrates how this approach translates into speed to market. The 116,766-square-foot conversion transformed existing warehouse space into a cold storage and distribution facility incorporating more than 40,000 square feet of freezer and cooler areas, convertible temperature zones, a production cooler and ambient storage. Delivered in under seven months, the project consolidated and expanded Alpine Foods’ processing operations, increasing output and strengthening product availability across Southern California.
How can coordinated planning accelerate cold storage facility start-up and operational readiness?
ARCO’s design-build approach allows for design, buyout, and construction to occur simultaneously, saving valuable time on the overall project schedule.
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ARCO’s design-build approach provides a single point of responsibility, reducing risk and delivering cost and schedule certainty.
A renovation for Alpine Food Distributing in Vernon, California, illustrates how this approach translates into speed to market. The 116,766-square-foot conversion transformed existing warehouse space into a cold storage and distribution facility incorporating more than 40,000 square feet of freezer and cooler areas, convertible temperature zones, a production cooler and ambient storage. Delivered in under seven months, the project consolidated and expanded Alpine Foods’ processing operations, increasing output and strengthening product availability across Southern California.
Scaling Capacity with Control
How does standardized design support multi-site cold storage expansion for national operators?
ARCO’s design-build process also supports clients with nationwide expansion plans. ARCO applies standardized design parameters, consistent vapor control practices and defined quality benchmarks across facilities, limiting variability as the footprint increases. A nationwide presence and established trade partnerships reinforce execution continuity across regions.
The design-build approach also offers superior cost and schedule benefits compared to projects with traditional delivery methods. For example, a 100,465-square-foot cold storage facility for a grocery wholesaler and foodservice distributor in El Monte, California, was originally designed under a traditional approach with hybrid roof assembly and box-in-a-box cold rooms. Rather than proceeding with the existing configuration, ARCO developed a design-build solution and introduced a layout tailored specifically to temperature-controlled operations.
The revised approach incorporated an open-roof configuration with insulated tilt-up walls, enhanced roof insulation and insulated metal panel walls extending through the deck. Recalibrating structural and refrigeration integration increased top-of-product clear height from 35.5 feet to 40 feet, enabling an additional pallet row and improving storage density.
ARCO delivered the lowest overall project cost among bidders and established a firm price structure that reduced exposure to escalation unless the scope changed. Coordinated sequencing supported completion two months ahead of competing timelines, enabling earlier operational deployment.
With 48 offices nationwide, ARCO combines national purchasing leverage with regional expertise. This structure enables repeat clients to develop temperature-controlled facilities across markets using consistent design standards, established trade partnerships and centralized delivery oversight. Clients including Performance Food Group, Sysco, DHL Supply Chain, and Domino’s rely on this hybrid model to scale cold storage infrastructure with coordinated execution and defined cost and schedule controls.
Structuring decisions before construction begins and maintaining centralized accountability through commissioning, ARCO enables operators to expand capacity with fewer variables, greater predictability and sustained execution continuity.
Design-Build Leadership in Cold Storage Construction
Temperature-controlled distribution has shifted from niche infrastructure to core supply chain strategy. Food producers, grocery wholesalers, third-party logistics providers and cold chain operators now rely on facilities that support tighter inventory turns, higher throughput and regional expansion. Construction partners must deliver more than square footage; they must translate product flow, temperature zoning and power demands into integrated building systems that perform from day one. Misalignment between structure, envelope and refrigeration design can result in costly retrofits, delayed commissioning or compromised storage density.
Executives evaluating a cold storage construction partner should focus on how risk is managed before ground is broken. Early design input that allows operators to test layout, capacity and system assumptions without committing to large upfront design expenditures signals a disciplined approach to capital planning. When structural, mechanical, electrical and refrigeration systems are developed in isolation, conflicts emerge late and schedules compress under pressure. Integrated delivery that centralizes responsibility reduces those handoffs and creates clearer cost visibility. Firms that align scheduling, procurement and engineering decisions at the outset are better positioned to protect commissioning timelines and operational start dates.
Performance reliability across large footprints also depends on how consistently design intent translates into execution. Temperature-controlled facilities demand careful coordination of vapor control, insulation strategy, clear heights and refrigeration infrastructure. Providers that apply standardized system approaches while adapting to site-specific operational requirements tend to preserve quality as buildings scale. Disciplined phasing, experienced trade partners and repeatable detailing contribute to predictable outcomes. Cold storage users expanding across markets benefit from partners that can replicate successful facility models without relearning lessons at each site.
National reach carries weight in this segment. Multi-market growth strategies require familiarity with permitting environments, utility constraints and regional labor conditions. Firms that combine centralized processes with local market insight can offer both buying power and jurisdictional fluency. Consistency in cost modeling, scheduling logic and subcontractor coordination becomes especially important when clients pursue portfolio-wide expansion. Facilities must open on time to support distribution contracts and seasonal demand, and construction risk directly affects revenue realization.
Cold storage construction further demands a willingness to challenge inherited assumptions. Projects that originate under traditional plan-and-spec frameworks may embed inefficiencies into roof structures, insulation strategies or internal layouts. A partner prepared to re-evaluate structural concepts, building envelopes and system integration can unlock additional storage density, improved throughput and more efficient capital allocation. Overlapping design, procurement and construction activities can shorten delivery timelines when managed under a single accountable team, particularly when long-lead refrigeration components or power infrastructure are involved.
ARCO National Construction stands out for aligning early planning, integrated design-build delivery and national execution depth within temperature-controlled facilities. Its model brings structural, MEP and refrigeration coordination under one point of responsibility from the outset, enabling clients to evaluate layout, capacity and system requirements before committing to significant design costs. In a California cold storage project, it reworked an inherited design into a purpose-built configuration that increased clear height, added pallet capacity, reduced overall project cost and delivered completion two months faster than competing approaches. For executives prioritizing cost certainty, schedule reliability and scalable growth, it represents a disciplined choice in cold storage construction.
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