Case Study

Nourse Farms

Industry

Industrial, Agricultural, HVAC

Project Location

Mills River, NC

Project Scope

7,848 SF Bunkhouse, Site & Drainage Works

Cooper Construction built the worker bunkhouse and the site works for Nourse Farms in Mills River, North Carolina.

Nourse had bought the growing and packing facility Cooper built for Lakeside Produce, and needed it to suit a berry propagation operation. That work went in mostly at ground level: a positive grade drainage system tied into the existing reclaim system, drainage grading around every building perimeter, asphalt paving, resurfaced gravel drives, an entrance gate, ADA parking and vehicle barrier railings along the roadway.

The bunkhouse is 7,848 square feet, the second on the site, and Cooper self-performed the mechanical work in it. Two Trane 10 ton gas packs with economizers and matching thermostats went on the roof, with CaptiveAire hood packages and fire control, two walk-in coolers with refrigeration, spiral duct and exhaust fans. Cooper also put mini split cooling into the server room and hooked up the sanitizer lines.

Nourse Farms won the North Carolina Department of Labor's Best New Housing award for the building, presented at the Gold Star Growers meeting in February 2025.

Nourse Farms is a ninety-year-old Massachusetts business that propagates strawberry plants and berries at Mills River for home gardeners, farmers and commercial growers across North America.