Climate by Design International’s New Campus Creates Lasting Impact

Over the last 30 years, Climate by Design International (CDI), a designer and manufacturer of custom desiccant dehumidifiers and critical process air handlers, has grown to be an influential part of the local Owatonna, Minnesota, community as well as the global air purification equipment manufacturing industry. We were proud to design and build their new 212,700-square-foot world-class facility, making an impact with CDI.

Local Community Collaboration

With all of our projects, we try to hire local contractors, subcontractors and tradespeople and source local supplies and vendors to support and create local jobs and tax revenue. We also incorporate sustainable materials and follow sustainable building practices as applicable. These are priorities for CDI as well.

According to Mike Anthony, Director of Project Management, we were well-positioned to accomplish this for CDI due to the strong community connections we made when we built the Bosch Automotive Service Solutions warehouse facility in Owatonna in 2020. “The people of Owatonna are hard-working, conscientious and responsible, and, as we learned when constructing Bosch, they’re proud to participate in Owatonna’s growth. We were very glad to work with many of these same partners again on CDI,” he said.

From construction laborers and sustainable land management experts to manufacturers of self-tinting smart glass, facility safety systems, garage doors and low-emission air-flow equipment, local partners were instrumental in the successful completion of CDI’s new, more sustainable facility.

They also contributed to helping position CDI as an employer of choice in Owatonna by incorporating employee-focused design elements, including a fitness center, a prayer room, basketball and pickleball courts, an outdoor patio and grill station and a walking path that winds through a nature area on the 14-acre property.

A Show-and-Tell Destination

To become a global leader, CDI wanted a world-class facility reflective of its commitment to designing sustainable air purification equipment. To accomplish this, we collaborated with CDI’s production optimization engineer, Carrus Group. Among Carrus’ responsibilities was selecting the manufacturing equipment CDI needed, a list that included a 25-foot-tall automated inventory dispensing system to hold components required to assemble CDI-manufactured equipment, five assembly flow lines, seven overhead cranes used in production and an on-site product test room.

We designed the new facility to both accommodate CDI’s equipment and process specifications and facilitate customer tours. Included in the design are open spaces with ample glass for natural lighting, a catering kitchen and large two-story cafeteria with floor-to-ceiling windows, rooms for customer product demonstrations and a large staircase with a sizable landing overlooking the entire production floor.

Before opening in December 2023, CDI welcomed many local and state businesses and government leaders and has since welcomed customers from across the globe, impressing them with their state-of-the-art production processes, advanced capabilities and thoughtful campus design as well as the quality of the equipment they produce.

The Power of Partnership

The Opus Foundation aims to support nonprofits in the markets in which we do business and, when possible, to give to an organization of our client’s choosing. Given CDI’s deep-rooted commitment to the people of Owatonna, it didn’t come as a surprise that they, too, value and prioritize resourcing critical community needs.

Among the many nonprofits CDI supports is Community Pathways of Steele County, which operates a thrift store that funds their food shelf and other programs. We were pleased to join CDI in making a difference for underserved individuals and families in Owatonna. The Opus Foundation granted $5,000 in 2022 and again in 2023 to support Community Pathways’ programming.

At CDI’s ribbon cutting in December 2023, the company’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer Tom Peterson said, “This manufacturing plant stands as a symbol of our commitment to local job creation, economic prosperity and the shared growth of our community.”

We were honored to partner with CDI and the countless people and businesses in Owatonna to not only build a world-class facility but to create the kind of community impact that will endure for many years to come.

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