Uline a family-owned business and the leading distributor of shipping, industrial and packaging materials to businesses throughout North America, engaged Hunzinger as Construction Manager for the major site development and new construction of a 880,000 SF warehouse, distribution center, data center and office for logistics and support functions. Located on previously undeveloped land immediately west of I-94 in Kenosha just across from the Amazon Fulfillment Center at 12355 Uline Way, the 144-acre site required major site development, storm water management, utility services and infrastructure upgrades to support the planned facility. Hunzinger coordinated a multitude of preconstruction and entitlement procedures to allow the major site clearing and earthwork to begin in 2016 with the moving and balancing of over 1 million cubic yards of soil and the construction of storm water management ponds with capacities of over 21 million gallons of water.
The new building features a precast and steel superstructure with 42-foot high panels to allow maximum flexibility for long-term storage and distribution needs. The building features 99 loading docks to streamline shipping and receiving. When additional staging of trucks and trailers is required on site, the concrete truck court is also able to accommodate up to 130 truck/trailer vehicles.
A big reason for Hunzinger’s success on this very complex distribution center was the full utilization of our own building modeling trademarked process known as Virtual Design & Construction Coordination™, (VDCC™). VDCC is more than traditional 3D BIM modeling; we integrate our groundbreaking Archispatial Model™ using Architispacial Analysis™ which is an interactive platform utilizing architectural models for the purpose of scheduling, estimating, sequencing and project coordination. By integrating our pioneering Archispatial Model, VDCC becomes a 5-dimension analysis and collaborative platform that not only virtually constructs, coordinates and quantifies building systems and assemblies in the three traditional spatial dimensions, but also incorporates a 4th dimension of project sequencing /delivery detail (Schedule) and a 5th dimension of project budget and cash flow detail (Cost). VDCCTM, using Archispacial Analysis™, has once again been proven to save both time and money.
Hunzinger’s Virtual Design and Construction Coordination™ (VDCC™) processes have been essential in building systems coordination for architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection elements. Additionally, VDCC™ has been utilized for lean/task-specific scheduling and budget/cost management for the project.
HGA Architects and Engineers served as the project designers with Pinnacle Engineering Group, Brookfield, WI working as the Civil Engineers. The project broke ground in April of 2016 and was completed for full operation in August of 2017.
Hunzinger is proud to be a part of reshaping and developing the Racine and Kenosha business corridor and completing this million SF distribution center that will employ 600 people when it is at full capacity. We look forward to continuing partnerships in the region that is growing jobs in Wisconsin.
Uline I6 Distribution Warehouse Fun Facts:
- The warehouse is approximately 20 acres
- The warehouse has 702 skylights
- The warehouse floor consists of 20,000 cubic yards of concrete
- There are 31,000 lineal feet of caulking joints around the precast
- There are 378 precast panels making up the walls of the warehouse
- There are 6.8 miles of underground utilities
- There are 112 miles of data cable