The Arkansas River Valley got a lot cooler in June as hundreds of people turned out for the ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand opening of Compass Cold Storage’s new refrigerated warehouse in Mulberry. Featuring state-of-art refrigeration and freezing technology, the complex offers space and services for food wholesalers, retailers and food manufacturing customers in central and northwest Arkansas.
Mulberry Mayor Gary Baxter and other local as well as state officials attended and toured the facility. It boasts 142,160 square feet and 18,500 pallet positions within a cold storage environment equipped with an QFM In-Rack Freezing System kit that combines blast freezing technology and pallet racking.
The warehouse is capable of maintaining temperatures ranging from 40°F to -20°F. Its QFM system freezes pallets up to four times faster than traditional blast freezers, with the ability to reduce energy consumption by as much as 50%.
Compass Cold owners Doug Bowen and Darren Winstead said the ribbon-cutting event was held not only to celebrate a grand opening but also to look forward to completion to phases two and three of the project.
“Working with the Ti Cold team has been a gratifying and smooth process,” stated Bowen. “It has only been around a year from groundbreaking to the grand opening. This is good for almost any type of new build project, but for a commercial project of this magnitude that turnaround timeframe is nothing short of exceptional. We are so pleased with how this has come together.”
Meanwhile, ground has already been broken for phase two, with completion scheduled for the early fall of this year. It includes additional freezer and dock space and will bring the project total investment to about $50 million. The third phase is now in the planning stage.
“This is what I call the cornerstone for our industrial park because it is the largest facility and is prominently visible from the highway. Access is very good, right off of Interstate 40 at Exit 20,” said Mayor Baxter.
“Any time we at Ti Cold can help fill critical food storage capacity demands within a region, we feel great about the accomplishment,” said Sam Tippmann, president of Melbourne, Florida-headquartered Ti Cold.
