The SPCA is building an 18,000-square-foot veterinary hospital on Hermitage Road. Image courtesy of SPCA.
With nearly 90 percent of its $11.5 million fundraising goal in hand, a local nonprofit has started renovations on a new 18,000-square-foot facility near The Diamond.
The Richmond SPCA is transforming the century-old building at 1611 Rhoadmiller St. into a low-cost full-service veterinary hospital catered to low-income pet owners.
The nonprofit started its Campaign for Compassionate Care about five years ago with an $11.5 million goal. Campaign chairman Stuart Siegel said the organization has reached $10.5 million.
Anthony Markel of the Markel Corp. provided the lead gift for the campaign. The new facility is to be named after his late wife, Susan M. Markel. A mix of individuals, corporations and foundations offered donations for the project, Siegel said.
Those funds will pay for the $3.4 million renovation of the building, which sits adjacent to the SPCA’s headquarters at 2519 Hermitage Road. SPCA Chief Executive Robin Starr said the remaining funds will go to an endowment for the new facility.
The project will redevelop a 100-year-old building near SPCA headquarters. Photos by Katie Demeria.
“You don’t want to build something if you can’t run it,” Starr said. “The endowment will help create a stream of revenue to run the operation.”
She said that wellness clinics for pets with low-income owners exist throughout the country, but full-service veterinary clinics catering to that demographic are rare.
“Our board saw it as the most crucially needed piece in achieving a no-kill community here in the Richmond area, meaning a community that saves the life of every healthy, and every treatable, homeless animal,” Starr said.
Many pets become homeless when their owners cannot afford to cover their medical bills. The clinic’s goal is to prevent that from happening, Starr said.
The SPCA launched a pilot clinic three years ago in its current facility, and has since been overwhelmed with patients, Starr said, often forcing the organization to turn some pets away. The current clinic has five exam rooms, and that number will jump to 13 in the new hospital.
It will also include space for an expanded training facility.
The owners using the hospital must meet a sliding low-income scale, a function of the poverty rate that considers household income and number of dependents. Half of the owners currently utilizing the pilot clinic make $30,000 a year or less in household income, while about one quarter make $15,000 or less.
The SPCA purchased the Rhoadmiller Street property in in 2008 for $800,000, city records show.
Todd Dykshorn of Architecture Design Office is designing the project. Conquest Moncure & Dunn is the general contractor. The project will seek historic tax credits.
The organization plans to complete work on the facility by November.
According to its most recently available tax filings through Guidestar.com, the Richmond SPCA brought in $7.9 million in total revenue in 2012 and spent about $5.4 million the same year.
The SPCA is building an 18,000-square-foot veterinary hospital on Hermitage Road. Image courtesy of SPCA.
With nearly 90 percent of its $11.5 million fundraising goal in hand, a local nonprofit has started renovations on a new 18,000-square-foot facility near The Diamond.
The Richmond SPCA is transforming the century-old building at 1611 Rhoadmiller St. into a low-cost full-service veterinary hospital catered to low-income pet owners.
The nonprofit started its Campaign for Compassionate Care about five years ago with an $11.5 million goal. Campaign chairman Stuart Siegel said the organization has reached $10.5 million.
Anthony Markel of the Markel Corp. provided the lead gift for the campaign. The new facility is to be named after his late wife, Susan M. Markel. A mix of individuals, corporations and foundations offered donations for the project, Siegel said.
Those funds will pay for the $3.4 million renovation of the building, which sits adjacent to the SPCA’s headquarters at 2519 Hermitage Road. SPCA Chief Executive Robin Starr said the remaining funds will go to an endowment for the new facility.
The project will redevelop a 100-year-old building near SPCA headquarters. Photos by Katie Demeria.
“You don’t want to build something if you can’t run it,” Starr said. “The endowment will help create a stream of revenue to run the operation.”
She said that wellness clinics for pets with low-income owners exist throughout the country, but full-service veterinary clinics catering to that demographic are rare.
“Our board saw it as the most crucially needed piece in achieving a no-kill community here in the Richmond area, meaning a community that saves the life of every healthy, and every treatable, homeless animal,” Starr said.
Many pets become homeless when their owners cannot afford to cover their medical bills. The clinic’s goal is to prevent that from happening, Starr said.
The SPCA launched a pilot clinic three years ago in its current facility, and has since been overwhelmed with patients, Starr said, often forcing the organization to turn some pets away. The current clinic has five exam rooms, and that number will jump to 13 in the new hospital.
It will also include space for an expanded training facility.
The owners using the hospital must meet a sliding low-income scale, a function of the poverty rate that considers household income and number of dependents. Half of the owners currently utilizing the pilot clinic make $30,000 a year or less in household income, while about one quarter make $15,000 or less.
The SPCA purchased the Rhoadmiller Street property in in 2008 for $800,000, city records show.
Todd Dykshorn of Architecture Design Office is designing the project. Conquest Moncure & Dunn is the general contractor. The project will seek historic tax credits.
The organization plans to complete work on the facility by November.
According to its most recently available tax filings through Guidestar.com, the Richmond SPCA brought in $7.9 million in total revenue in 2012 and spent about $5.4 million the same year.