Fresh Express Food Processing Facility

​When Fresh Express decided to consolidate multiple Chicagoland operations into one facility, they chose Opus Design Build, L.L.C. after receiving competitive bids. Fresh Express had a tight timeline that was crucial to meet – multiple leases at their other facilities were terminating.

Using its design-build delivery process and the team’s extensive industrial construction expertise, Opus collaborated with Fresh Express, fulfilled their design goals and completed the building on time. In addition to providing operational efficiencies and room for future growth, the LEED certified building also helps reduce the environmental impact and costs of Fresh Express’ operations.

The large industrial project included building demolitions, renovations to an existing structure and construction of an addition to create the 335,000-square-foot, ready-cut food processing facility. Located in Streamwood, Ill., the building houses approximately 700 employees and is used primarily for food processing, including vegetable cleaning, slicing and bagging, as well as cold storage warehousing and office space. The building has two docks – one for raw good deliveries in and one for finished good deliveries out – with the food processing located in between.

The facility was awarded LEED Silver certification for its water use reduction and optimized energy performance of the 2,200 ton ammonia-based refrigeration plant. Other elements that contributed to the certification included re-use of existing building materials and various design innovations.