MPW Engineering provided design and specifications of the refrigeration and refrigeration energy management systems for the newly converted Walgreen’s store located inside one of New York’s signature architectural landmarks, The Empire State Building.
The Empire State location was formerly part of the Duane Reade chain of convenience stores and pharmacies, which were primarily located in New York City, and well-known for their high volume, small store layouts. The chain was acquired by Walgreens in 2010, and many of the stores are now in the process of being converted to the Walgreens’ retail platform.
Walgreens desired a more efficient, cost-effective and “greener” solution as they planned to convert a single floor store to three floors in a multi-story, mixed-use building. The previous refrigeration system utilized a costly, high-ozone depleting refrigerant.
MPW Engineering, recognized for utilizing state-of-the-art sustainable engineering solutions, designed a new split mini-rack system that utilized a more environmentally-friendly, zero ozone-depleting refrigerant. The rack served new refrigerated fixtures, consisting of water-cooled compressors that were tied into the building’s existing water loop. The new rack was installed while still maintaining standard store operations. A reduction in the project’s first cost was achieved through the reuse of the existing refrigerant pipe runs.
Water-cooled compressors were utilized not only due to the limitation for the installation of an air-cooled condenser, but the efficiency gains achieved by lowering the condensing temperature. The lowered condensing temperature increases the efficiency and capacity of the refrigeration compressors. The Existing pipe network was modified for reuse to reduce the installation’s first cost.
The success of the Walgreens’ Empire State Building conversion represents the comprehensive approach and advanced engineering capabilities of MPW to help our clients manage the process of converting existing facilities while integrating state-of-the-art sustainable solutions, and keeping costs low.