Cabela’s Distribution Center
Tooele, Utah     
Best Project

Owner Cabela’s Distribution Center
Lead Design GSBS Architects
Structural Engineer Dunn Associates Inc.
Civil Engineer Great Basin Engineering
MEP Engineer Colvin Engineering Associates Inc.
Electrical Engineer BNA Consulting Inc.
General Contractor Big-D Construction

The largest direct marketer of hunting, fishing, camping and other outdoor merchandise, Cabela’s new 600,000-sq-ft, state-of-the-art distribution center in Tooele, Utah, supports the growing demand for its merchandise. It also handles freight and product shipping to the company’s 54 U.S. stores. The project included 45 acres of sitework and surface parking for employees and trucks.

Cabela’s new building is made of tilt-up concrete with open-web steel roof joists, girders and deck. The clear height within the structure is 30 ft. The 554,370-sq-ft warehouse houses a maintenance shop, shipping and receiving areas and a 30,000-sq-ft, single-story administration office, bringing the total space to 600,030 sq ft. 

The building houses several large, highly automated equipment platforms with multiple mezzanines packed with material-handling equipment, along with nearly 162,000 sq ft of high-pile, narrow-aisle racking. An air turnover system with exhaust fans ventilates the building efficiently and comfortably.

The material-handling equipment and racking systems were designed before the envelope design, which complies with the 2012 Energy Code recently adopted by the state of Utah. 

Utah is seismically active, so Big-D developed a unique lateral-bracing system to limit interference and conflicts with the layout of material-handling equipment.  The system uses a single-column brace line with slip joints instead of the traditional double-column line with rigid-deck connections. It’s not only more efficient but also less expensive overall.

An extensive collaboration with the design team created four different bid packages, which enabled Big-D Construction to complete half the building in just under six months and meet the tight schedule set by the material-handling contractor.

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