A rendering of the $40 million facility planned for Feed More on Villa Park Drive. (Image courtesy Feed More)
Beside a bustling construction site and a huge mound of dirt, staff and supporters of regional food bank Feed More heaved a few more shovels’ worth of earth Wednesday morning to celebrate the start of its new headquarters.
The Richmond-based nonprofit held a ceremonial groundbreaking at 8020 Villa Park Drive near St. Joseph’s Villa in Henrico County, where it will move from its current home base near The Diamond in the city.
Site work is underway on the $40 million distribution warehouse, which at 124,000 square feet will be nearly 40% larger than the current space and provide efficiencies and technology to improve its operations.
“It’s the beginning of a new chapter of a 56-year journey that Feed More has had,” CEO Doug Pick told the gathering that included donors, corporate sponsors and other supporters.
Feed More CEO Doug Pick addressed attendees at Wednesday’s ceremony. (Jonathan Spiers photos)
“This new building is going to be an amazing vessel. It’s going to be a vessel for food, it’s going to be a vessel for people, it’s going to be a vessel for allowing neighbors to help neighbors,” Pick said. “We couldn’t be at this momentous occasion without each and every one of you.”
The new facility will replace Feed More’s century-old digs at 1415 and 1603 Rhoadmiller St., a pair of former tobacco buildings that Board of Directors Chairman Brian Davis described as no longer efficient for the nonprofit’s collection, preparation and distribution of 40 million pounds of food annually.
“We’ve outgrown our current home on Rhoadmiller Street,” Davis said, describing the warehouses as tobacco-stained and filled with interior pillars that obstruct operations for its 100 full-time workers and the more than 200 volunteers who assist at the site daily.
Feed More’s current headquarters totals nearly 90,000 square feet. (Colliers marketing flyer)
“There’s a pillar in the meeting room, there’s pillars in the kitchen; there’s pillars everywhere you don’t want there to be a pillar, and we’ve outgrown that,” Davis said. “We can’t expand outwards, we can’t expand vertically, so we need a solution, and there’s an ever-increasing demand.”
In addition to the extra square-footage, the new facility will have five times Feed More’s current freezer capacity and will double the size of its commercial kitchen, accommodating its prepping of as many as 15,000 meals weekly. Davis added that the facility’s throughput will be three times greater without increasing overhead costs, with easy access to the interstate across Brook Road.
The 9-acre site is at 8020 Villa Park Drive.
Feed More purchased the 9-acre site for $1.5 million earlier this year. The property is between the Villa Park I building that houses Labcorp and the former Colortree printing plant that’s now home to Moore-owned Richmond Print Group. The facility will be accessed via an existing driveway that serves Richmond Print Group and the nearby Brown Distributing facility.
Hourigan is the developer and general contractor on the project, and architecture firm Baskervill is designing it. Timmons Group is the engineer.
Feed More is aiming to complete and move into the facility next fall. The nonprofit has previously said the project cost would be covered through fundraising.
The food bank also has listed its Rhoadmiller properties for sale. Pick told BizSense that the listing “is still being actively marketed and there are several seriously interested parties.” The move to Villa Park is not dependent on Feed More selling its current home.
Feed More’s current complex, outlined in yellow, is next to the Interstate 95 and across Rhoadmiller Street from The Park at RVA. (Colliers marketing flyer image)
Colliers agent Rebecca Barricklow has the listing, which does not include an asking price. She originally shared the listing with former colleague Joe Marchetti, who recently departed Colliers to launch a new brokerage.
Other speakers at Wednesday’s ceremony included Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Matt Lohr, Secretary of Health and Human Resources John Littel, and Tanya Gonzales, executive director of Sacred Heart Center, one of the more than 270 agencies in Feed More’s network that stretches across 34 counties and cities.
Also providing remarks were Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas and Supervisor Frank Thornton, who’s stepping down from the board after 28 years representing the Fairfield District that includes the new Feed More site.
Taking part in the groundbreaking were, from left: Feed More’s Aaron McClung, state secretaries John Littel and Matt Lohr, Henrico Supervisor Frank Thornton, Feed More CEO Doug Pick and Chairman Brian Davis, and Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas.
“We could not be more proud to have them as new residents in Henrico County,” Thornton said.
Noting Feed More’s formation from the 2008 combination of the Central Virginia Food Bank and delivery service Meals on Wheels, Vithoulkas said the latter was a program of the Henrico chapter of the American Red Cross dating to 1967. He added that Feed More serves neighborhoods in the county through 25 active community food pantries and nonprofits.
“I can’t think of a regional organization with greater clarity and effectiveness than Feed More,” Vithoulkas said. “As a region, we participate and fund these regional organizations, and I really think that we need to as a region rally behind that fact and step up our game. Yes, this is a wonderful facility, but let’s make it a forever thing as a region.”
A rendering of the $40 million facility planned for Feed More on Villa Park Drive. (Image courtesy Feed More)
Beside a bustling construction site and a huge mound of dirt, staff and supporters of regional food bank Feed More heaved a few more shovels’ worth of earth Wednesday morning to celebrate the start of its new headquarters.
The Richmond-based nonprofit held a ceremonial groundbreaking at 8020 Villa Park Drive near St. Joseph’s Villa in Henrico County, where it will move from its current home base near The Diamond in the city.
Site work is underway on the $40 million distribution warehouse, which at 124,000 square feet will be nearly 40% larger than the current space and provide efficiencies and technology to improve its operations.
“It’s the beginning of a new chapter of a 56-year journey that Feed More has had,” CEO Doug Pick told the gathering that included donors, corporate sponsors and other supporters.
Feed More CEO Doug Pick addressed attendees at Wednesday’s ceremony. (Jonathan Spiers photos)
“This new building is going to be an amazing vessel. It’s going to be a vessel for food, it’s going to be a vessel for people, it’s going to be a vessel for allowing neighbors to help neighbors,” Pick said. “We couldn’t be at this momentous occasion without each and every one of you.”
The new facility will replace Feed More’s century-old digs at 1415 and 1603 Rhoadmiller St., a pair of former tobacco buildings that Board of Directors Chairman Brian Davis described as no longer efficient for the nonprofit’s collection, preparation and distribution of 40 million pounds of food annually.
“We’ve outgrown our current home on Rhoadmiller Street,” Davis said, describing the warehouses as tobacco-stained and filled with interior pillars that obstruct operations for its 100 full-time workers and the more than 200 volunteers who assist at the site daily.
Feed More’s current headquarters totals nearly 90,000 square feet. (Colliers marketing flyer)
“There’s a pillar in the meeting room, there’s pillars in the kitchen; there’s pillars everywhere you don’t want there to be a pillar, and we’ve outgrown that,” Davis said. “We can’t expand outwards, we can’t expand vertically, so we need a solution, and there’s an ever-increasing demand.”
In addition to the extra square-footage, the new facility will have five times Feed More’s current freezer capacity and will double the size of its commercial kitchen, accommodating its prepping of as many as 15,000 meals weekly. Davis added that the facility’s throughput will be three times greater without increasing overhead costs, with easy access to the interstate across Brook Road.
The 9-acre site is at 8020 Villa Park Drive.
Feed More purchased the 9-acre site for $1.5 million earlier this year. The property is between the Villa Park I building that houses Labcorp and the former Colortree printing plant that’s now home to Moore-owned Richmond Print Group. The facility will be accessed via an existing driveway that serves Richmond Print Group and the nearby Brown Distributing facility.
Hourigan is the developer and general contractor on the project, and architecture firm Baskervill is designing it. Timmons Group is the engineer.
Feed More is aiming to complete and move into the facility next fall. The nonprofit has previously said the project cost would be covered through fundraising.
The food bank also has listed its Rhoadmiller properties for sale. Pick told BizSense that the listing “is still being actively marketed and there are several seriously interested parties.” The move to Villa Park is not dependent on Feed More selling its current home.
Feed More’s current complex, outlined in yellow, is next to the Interstate 95 and across Rhoadmiller Street from The Park at RVA. (Colliers marketing flyer image)
Colliers agent Rebecca Barricklow has the listing, which does not include an asking price. She originally shared the listing with former colleague Joe Marchetti, who recently departed Colliers to launch a new brokerage.
Other speakers at Wednesday’s ceremony included Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Matt Lohr, Secretary of Health and Human Resources John Littel, and Tanya Gonzales, executive director of Sacred Heart Center, one of the more than 270 agencies in Feed More’s network that stretches across 34 counties and cities.
Also providing remarks were Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas and Supervisor Frank Thornton, who’s stepping down from the board after 28 years representing the Fairfield District that includes the new Feed More site.
Taking part in the groundbreaking were, from left: Feed More’s Aaron McClung, state secretaries John Littel and Matt Lohr, Henrico Supervisor Frank Thornton, Feed More CEO Doug Pick and Chairman Brian Davis, and Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas.
“We could not be more proud to have them as new residents in Henrico County,” Thornton said.
Noting Feed More’s formation from the 2008 combination of the Central Virginia Food Bank and delivery service Meals on Wheels, Vithoulkas said the latter was a program of the Henrico chapter of the American Red Cross dating to 1967. He added that Feed More serves neighborhoods in the county through 25 active community food pantries and nonprofits.
“I can’t think of a regional organization with greater clarity and effectiveness than Feed More,” Vithoulkas said. “As a region, we participate and fund these regional organizations, and I really think that we need to as a region rally behind that fact and step up our game. Yes, this is a wonderful facility, but let’s make it a forever thing as a region.”
This sounds like a major win for FeedMore and The City. Hopefully their old property will eventually see a higher/denser use and generate more tax revenue instead of being another tobacco warehouse converted into apartments with few windows.
and it’s official. It’s going to be apartments.