Roundy’s Distribution Center at Pabst Farms

Size Matters

Giant Roundy's blends into scenery

By Jim Cryns

It’s not easy blending a 1.1-million-square-foot building into the local landscape.

But that’s just what Opus North Corp. and National Survey and Engineering accomplished for the Roundy’s Distribution Center at Pabst Farms in Oconomowoc and Summit.

“It’s the best looking million-square-foot building in the county,” said Fred Spelshaus, National Survey’s senior project manager. “First of all, we’ve hidden it quite a bit, and we positioned the loading dock in the back. We took a lot of effort to make the place look nice and to satisfy the local residents.”

The 113-acre Roundy’s site was fully landscaped with an extensive berm system to meet the exacting standards of the local communities involved in Pabst Farms, which covers 1,500 acres once owned by Milwaukee brewing magnate Frederick Pabst.

The Roundy’s structure covers 23 acres, or about a half-mile. The dry-grocery storage building came in at 525,000 square feet, while the cooler space added 300,000 square feet. On top of that, the structure includes 165,000 square feet of frozen storage and 90,000 square feet for office space.

“The area was originally designated for nine smaller warehouses,” said Jeff Hook, an associate project manager with Opus. “In reality, with our large structure, we convinced the residents they were dealing with fewer trucks going in and out.

“Also, with a solitary structure, we were held to a higher standard than nine separate buildings would have been.”

But that didn’t necessarily make construction of the storage structure for Roundy’s any easier. Hook and Spelshaus said the project was so large it helped to look at one area at a time, moving from dry-good storage to the cooler portion.

“Each area had a separate focus,” Hook said. “At one point, we even considered having a separate superintendent for each portion of the project. But, in the end, we decided not to go that route.”


	Project Name: Roundy's Distribution Center at Pabst Farms Location: Oconomowoc and Summit Submitting Companies: Opus North Corp., Milwaukee, and National Survey & Engineering, a division of R.A. Smith & Associates Inc., Brookfield Co-Developer and Design/Build General Contractor: Opus North Corp. Architect: Opus Architects & Engineers Inc., Minnetonka, Minn. Engineers: Opus Architects & Engineers Inc., structural engineer; National Survey & Engineering, civil engineer Owner and Developer: Pabst Farms-RDC LLC, Oconomowoc Project Cost: $70 million Project Size: 1.1 million square feet Start Date: May 2004 Completion Date: February 2005

He said the project team’s experience with big-box developments helped in making the structure look natural.

“We created a central entryway, so it looks like an office facility, rather than just a mass of concrete,” Hook said. “The Pabst Farms covenant required us to take care. They expected a good architectural statement.”

But before the team could worry about architecture, it had to take care of the land. The soil beneath the structure consists of a highly permeable sand and gravel, and Spelshaus said that portion of the project was a big concern.

“We had to devise a system to control the runoff water, make sure it was acceptable,” Spelshaus said. “We collect the runoff in a detention basin, allowing the water to leave the ground better than it was.”

And once construction started, Hook said, everyone involved in the project was sensitive to the size of the building. The team also understood it had to look past that.

“We looked at it as more than a warehouse,” he said. “It needed to fit within the culture of the area, functionally and economically. It had to fit in with the overall scenery of the area.”