The Manatee County District Cooling Plant fulfills a critical function for downtown Bradenton, but that doesn’t mean the city’s residents wanted a potential eyesore of an exposed network of pipes and tanks. 

To address this challenge, NDC Construction partnered with B&I Contractors to leverage their complementary expertise. Working alongside Fawley Bryant Architects, this collaborative approach produced a 7,220-square-foot building shell to house the plant’s complex mechanical systems. The result is an attractive facility that delivers chilled water to public and private locations downtown while also providing many additional benefits to the community.

NDC Construction led the development of the site with city-provided utilities, while also delivering the building shell and the interior and exterior finishes. Large, glass overhead doors provide a window into the mechanical equipment, which was painted to enhance the facility’s appearance. Custom aluminum panels screen the cooling towers from view while simultaneously providing hurricane protection.

The resulting facility enables the county to save resources by reducing maintenance costs, increasing energy efficiency, and decreasing the county’s carbon footprint. In addition, it generates ongoing revenue via chilled water sales to private buildings, making the facility both functionally and fiscally valuable to the community.