Publix, the largest employee-owned supermarket chain in the U.S., has gotten approval to move forward on a $400 million distribution campus in McLeansville, N.C.
On July 10, a year after Publix announced its plans for the campus, the Water Quality Committee of the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission approved the request to commence construction of the distribution facility, which would be Publix’s 10th.
That campus will include a 1.1-million-sf refrigerated warehouse, a 120,000-sf food manufacturing facility, and a 1.3-million-sf dry warehouse. It is expected to generate 1,000 new jobs after it’s completed in late 2021 or early 2022.
Publix has selected LEO A DALY and its subsidiary engineering firm Lockwood, Andrews & Newman to design the refrigerated/frozen food part of the campus, which would be the retailer’s northern-most distribution point. (Currently, 38 of Publix’s 1,200-pus supermarkets are located in North Carolina.) LEO A DALY and LAN will provide architecture and engineering services, including fire-protection, refrigeration engineering, and sustainability consulting.
The GC on this project was not disclosed at presstime.
This project is design-bid-build. “The market sector is moving toward a design-build delivery method, but in this case, Publix will benefit from the design-led approach, with all disciplines in-house,” Mike Schmidt, AIA, NCARB, market-sector leader for food, distribution, and manufacturing in LEO A DALY’s West Palm Beach, Fla., design studio, tells BD+C. “Design-bid-build allows us to work directly with the client to understand its unique needs and deliver a more customized solution. We’re focused on innovative space planning, improvement the employee experience, and creating more efficient building systems.”
The North Carolina warehouse will be comparable to Publix’s DC in Orlando, Fla., which LEO A DALY designed. The design team intends to use BIM to track costs through the design process, and VR to plan spaces, get faster client feedback, and reduce waste.
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Feb 9, 2023
New Giants 400 download: Get the complete at-a-glance 2022 Giants 400 rankings in Excel
See how your architecture, engineering, or construction firm stacks up against the nation's AEC Giants. For more than 45 years, the editors of Building Design+Construction have surveyed the largest AEC firms in the U.S./Canada to create the annual Giants 400 report. This year, a record 519 firms participated in the Giants 400 report. The final report includes 137 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
Adaptive Reuse | Jan 12, 2023
Invest in existing buildings for your university
According to Nick Sillies of GBBN, students are increasingly asking: "How sustainable is your institution?" Reusing existing buildings may help answer that.
Industrial Facilities | Nov 16, 2022
Industrial building sector construction, while healthy, might also be flattening
For all the hoopla about the ecommerce boom and “last mile” order fulfillment driving demand for more warehouse and manufacturing space, construction of industrial buildings actually declined over the past five years, albeit marginally by 2.1% to $27.3 billion in 2022, according to estimates by IBIS World. Still, construction in this sector remains buzzy.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 90 Construction Management Firms for 2022
CBRE, Alfa Tech, Jacobs, and Hill International head the rankings of the nation's largest construction management (as agent) and program/project management firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 200 Contractors for 2022
Turner Construction, STO Building Group, Whiting-Turner, and DPR Construction top the ranking of the nation's largest general contractors, CM at risk firms, and design-builders for nonresidential buildings and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 45 Engineering Architecture Firms for 2022
Jacobs, AECOM, WSP, and Burns & McDonnell top the rankings of the nation's largest engineering architecture (EA) firms for nonresidential buildings and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 80 Engineering Firms for 2022
Kimley-Horn, Tetra Tech, Langan, and NV5 head the rankings of the nation's largest engineering firms for nonresidential buildings and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 19, 2022
2022 Giants 400 Report: Tracking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms
Now 46 years running, Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report rankings the largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. This year a record 519 AEC firms participated in BD+C's Giants 400 report. The final report includes more than 130 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
Multifamily Housing | Jun 21, 2022
Two birds, one solution: Can we solve urban last-mile distribution and housing challenges at the same time?
When it comes to the development of both multifamily housing and last-mile distribution centers, particularly in metropolitan environments, each presents its own series of challenges and hurdles. One solution: single-use structures.
Warehouses | Feb 21, 2022
Hunt Midwest is on the hunt for CRE opportunities outside of Kansas City
The developer, owned by the Lamar Hunt family, is building a nearly half-million-sf industrial center in South Carolina
