Karis Cold and Development Solutions, Inc. (DSI) announced the opening and availability of their new cold storage facility at 3815 S. Ashland Avenue in Chicago’s McKinley Park neighborhood.
Built as new construction with state-of-the-art methods and materials, the warehouse offers configuration, capacity and location that meets the demands of Chicago’s market, said Jake Finley, CEO and founder of Karis Cold.
“We’ve built our platform around delivering modern, high-performance cold storage in markets where outdated inventory creates real constraints,” he said.
Height and Density
The massive water tank and pump house at Karis Cold stand ready to extinguish any fires in the facility.Notably, the new Karis Cold warehouse bests other decades-old local facilities that lack the height, storage density and efficient setup for modern operations, the company stated.
The property’s 99,530 square foot building can hold more than 15,500 pallets of food in two freezer spaces allowing tall pallet stacks thanks to 50 feet of clearance height.
Continental Can Company
A “cold dock” supports load in and out from 13 semi trailer stalls, and the property offers semi truck and car parking, a truck court and many infrastructure elements to support operations and safety, including a massive water tank and pump house in case of fire.
As previously reported here in the McKinley Park News, the project broke ground on October 18, 2024, replacing the Central Manufacturing District’s historic Continental Can Company building, which had filled with graffiti and street art prior to demolition.
Design-Build Construction
A glycol system precisely controls floor temperature inside freezer and cooler storage at Karis Cold.Artist Daniel Banegas painted large-scale murals on the building’s west elevation facing South Ashland Avenue, including Chicago scenes and the Continental Can Company’s building tower at the location where it previously stood.
The new structure implements the latest materials and techniques for cold storage operations, delivered by a “fully integrated design-build approach,” DSI said.
Technical Environment
“Cold storage requires a level of coordination that goes well beyond traditional industrial construction,” said Jacob Karamol, Owner and Managing Partner of DSI.
“These facilities are highly technical environments where structure, refrigeration, and envelope performance must work together seamlessly,” he said.
Central Food Distribution
Finley noted how the warehouse sits within “one of the most important food markets in the country.”
“Chicago plays a central role in the country’s food distribution network, but the infrastructure supporting it hasn’t kept pace,” he said.
Storage Shortage
Truck bays will support up to 13 trailers at once at the new Karis Cold warehouse.“There’s a clear shortage of functional, high-clear cold storage in Chicago, particularly within infill submarkets like the Stockyards Planned Manufacturing District,” said John Basile, executive vice president at commercial real estate company NAI Hiffman, one of the project’s partners.
“Facilities that combine scale, flexibility, and proximity to the city’s food distribution network are increasingly difficult to replicate,” he said.
Central Manufacturing District
The Karis Cold storage warehouse is open for business and soliciting tenants, DSI announced, offering divisible layouts starting from 50,000 square feet.
The facility sits sits at the northeast corner of South Ashland Avenue and West Pershing Road in the Stockyards Planned Manufacturing District and historic Central Manufacturing District.
Note: Karis Cold is a Sponsor of the McKinley Park News. For information about our operations and policies, see our About Us page and the Letter from the Editor "Building a Trustworthy News Business."
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