Cold storage facility opens

In the hyper-competitive frozen food storage market, PL Cold, the newest corporate division of Progressive Logistics (PL), has separated from the competition with its new 300,000-sq.-ft., deep-frozen (-10F degrees) storage facility in Hancock County. In collaboration with development partner Ambrose Property Group, PL Cold has integrated cutting-edge technology and design features to ensure Safe Quality Foods (SQF), Organic, and American Institute of Baking (AIB) certification for its worldwide customers who demand state-of-the-art cold storage within a day’s drive of most of the nation’s population.

“With our addition of dedicated deep-frozen food capacity, Progressive Logistics and PL Cold now have more than 1 million square feet of top-line storage options in the Indianapolis Metro, one of the most dynamic logistics markets in the Midwest,” said Douglas Hayes, co-founder and CEO of Progressive Logistics. “Our development partner, Ambrose Property Group, understands the complex needs of the food storage industry and has positioned us adjacent to six major U.S. interstates for timely, efficient, in-and-out service for our customers.”

The PL Cold deep-frozen food facility is located at the confluence of I-70 and Mount Comfort Road. ARCO Design/Build Indianapolis led the design and construction of this state-of-the-art building, which is equipped with 40 doors, each outfitted with modern vertically stored dock equipment, VNA racking with over 38,000 pallet positions, access control and video surveillance systems, USDA import/export inspection capabilities, a modern warehouse management system and an ALTA Refrigeration EXPERT system. This refrigeration system provides temperature flexibility with the capacity to convert storage areas from freezer to cooler conditions based on customer needs. It also utilizes non-hazardous synthetic refrigerant in lieu of a traditional ammonia-based system, reduces energy consumption and water usage and delivers hands-free operation and monitoring.
This attention to design detail and built-in storage flexibility provides extraordinary protection for customers’ inventory, with specially-designed racks and curbing and a voluminous 80’ deep loading area.

“At Ambrose, we are all about putting our clients’ needs first, and in the food and cold storage market, that means integrating modern technology and flexibility into our developments to allow them to meet the varying requirements of each of their customers,” said Ambrose Vice President of Development and National Build-to-Suit Officer Scott Sanders. “We worked very closely with PL Cold to ensure the finished facility would meet the industry demand of both today and tomorrow.”

For Ben Titus, President of ARCO Design/Build Indianapolis, it’s all about his company’s core values. “It’s our job to understand our customer’s business and solve their problems.  From the very first design kickoff meeting, we dug into the vision that PL Cold had for this facility so that we could advise, implement strategies, and design solutions aligned with their vision of delivering a state-of-the-art facility.  We are proud to have delivered on that.”

Mark Teicher, vice president of operations for PL Cold, has over 30 years of experience in the warehousing industry. He was intimately involved in the planning, design and construction of the facility. The building clearly demonstrates that it was built by an operator that had the customer in mind.

“We are finding with all of the consolidation in the warehousing industry that the needs of the customer are being replaced by the wants of the larger warehouse networks. For PL Cold, customer service is, and always will be, the most important consideration,” said Teicher. “We have designed a building and trained our staff to ensure that we will be able to accurately and efficiently load trucks far more quickly than the industry standard time of two hours.”

Teicher is joined in the effort by Ed Rodgers as the Vice President of Business Development. Teicher and Rodgers are happy to reunite at PL Cold after nearly 25 years together at Preferred Freezer Services. They look to provide the "Preferred" service levels their customers have come to expect and depend upon for their success.

Rodgers has over 26 years of experience in sales and business development in the warehousing industry and echoed Teicher's sentiment. "We concentrate on our customers' customers. When the end user receives their order intact and in full, everyone in the food chain benefits from those efforts. We will always focus on the customers' success. In turn, our growth and success will follow from these efforts."

What we stand for - PL Cold gives back to the community in many ways, supporting STEM education, providing for our veterans, who make our freedom possible, and food insecurity.