1001 Columbia Ave.

RIVERSIDE, CA-DEXUS Property Group and USAA Real Estate have unveiled a 507,000-square-foot freezer facility at 1001 Columbia Ave. that USAA has leased to Castle & Cooke for 15 years. DEXUS, a REIT based in Australia, developed the project for USAA Real Estate, which provides co-investment, acquisition, build-to-suit and development capital and services on behalf of its parent company, USAA.

The specialized building is one of the world’s largest and leading LEED-certified cold storage facilities, according to the DEXUS announcement. The building is designed as a tilt-up concrete structure throughout and is capable of -10 degrees in all areas. It features 42 feet interior clear height, 22,500 square feet of office space, 565 parking stalls and 120 trailer stalls, 98 dock doors, 18 high-speed interior cooler doors and 135 permanently housed forklifts.

Aerial View

According to Bruce McDonald, DEXUS managing director for asset management and development, the project was completed in less than 10 months and within budget. The overall development was led by project manager Dave Walker. Bill Hendricksen, CEO of Castle & Cooke Cold, said the new building will enable the company to handle the expanding warehousing and logistic requirements of its customers.

Ron Loveridge, mayor of Riverside, noted that the facility will bring 350 new jobs. Its development resulted in a significant increase in materials purchase, more than 2,000 construction jobs and a permanent capital investment in the City of Riverside, the mayor added. The development team included HPA Architects, Fullmer Construction as general contractor, Hunter Landscape, Wright Engineering for refrigeration engineering, ATI Architects as insulation engineer, Thienes Engineering as civil engineers, So Cal Geotechnical for geotechnical engineering, Gartner Refrigeration & Mechanical for refrigeration equipment installation, and Clarion construction for insulation.