Story

Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB) has been an invaluable source of meals for people and families in the Greater Washington area since 1979. They entrusted DAVIS to build a new facility that increased their square footage by four times and includes a warehouse and office space designed to support its mission of combating food insecurity in the region. The project features approximately 12,000-SF of office, working and volunteer space, along with 30,000-SF of warehouse space, including a 2,500-SF drive-in freezer and a 4,000-SF cooler. The facility also features three tractor-trailer bays, five straight truck bays, two vehicle drop-off bays, and 35,000-SF of elevated parking. With this new facility in place, CAFB can store 1.8M pounds of dry food, and the new cooler can store 936,000 pounds of food, compared to the 80,000 pound capacity of their former facility. Our project team incorporated several unique design elements to maximize efficiency. The facility was built into a hillside, elevating the lobby level above the warehouse and positioning the office space on the top floor. The warehouse and cold storage areas feature 36’ dry storage bays within a fully precast structure. The warehouse ceiling was strategically used to reduce sprinkler system requirements, while ventilation fans above the cold storage areas help mitigate condensation risks. Extensive mechanical, electrical and plumbing coordination was required, including the installation of underslab heat tracing to prevent slab heaving in the freezer storage area. The facility’s location on a slope required careful coordination of excavation access to accommodate cranes and truck deliveries. We also worked closely with Fairfax County to meet high-pile storage requirements, which included many unique conditions with sprinklers and fire alarms due to the rated exterior walls and varying warehouse ceiling heights. Overcoming these complexities required close collaboration between all stakeholders. With a short construction schedule, the building required temporary conditioning during cold months to allow for drywall installation on the warehouse ceiling. This effort was particularly complex due to the number of active loading dock bays and the volume of work occurring simultaneously. Despite these challenges, the project was successfully completed, providing the Capital Area Food Bank with a state-of-the-art facility to enhance its operations and better serve the community.