Daily Table is a nonprofit grocery chain that provides fresh, nutritious, and convenient food to Boston-area communities whose residents often rely on SNAP benefits. The chain’s two-level 7,000-sqaure-foot Roxbury location needed the first floor of an office building renovated, with the goal of salvaging and reusing existing systems to create a healthy space that was cost-efficient to operate.

The project presented several challenges related to being a strict and budget-conscious renovation:

• Existing services could not be overloaded by the change in use from office to food store.
• Sprinkler systems needed to be adjusted for changes in hazard ratings.
• The donation of some equipment required design flexibility so that delivered items would work even if they varied from design assumptions.
• Mechanical systems needed to be designed in multiple configurations for possible replacement if funds could not be obtained or for reuse if not.

Plumbing waste systems were designed with alternates for vacuum-type condensate systems in case destructive demolition during construction revealed obstructions to gravity drainage.

In addition, the spaces above and below the store were occupied throughout the project by local government offices, which required minimal disruption to those tenants.