Sina Hospitality CEO Ravi Patel and Kim Hill, executive director of the Chesterfield Food Bank and Outreach Center. The organizations are building an expanded facility for the food bank. (Images courtesy Sina Hospitality)
Hungry for more space, a Chesterfield nonprofit is looking to expand its operations with some help from a local hotelier.
Chesterfield Food Bank and Outreach Center is in the early stages of planning a larger facility on the site of its current home base, 12211 Iron Bridge Road in Chester.
The estimated $10 million project would double the size of the food bank facility to nearly 40,000 square feet, Executive Director Kim Hill said.
Key to the project is the support of Sina Hospitality, a Chesterfield-based hotel operator run by Ravi Patel, which is providing project management and other help, Hill said.
The project is intended to give Chesterfield Food Bank additional capacity to handle demand for food assistance, which has risen since the pandemic, and generally update the group’s facility.
“We service and take care of close to 90% of the hunger need in Chesterfield and we also service the surrounding Tri-Cities area and south of the river,” Hill said. “We’re in so much need of warehouse space and refrigeration. We need better working conditions.”
The organization provides food to 5,000 families per month, Hill said, and in 2023 it distributed almost 3 million pounds of food.
She said the food bank saw demand for food assistance grow during the pandemic. Demand has continued to increase with greater awareness of the organization and recent inflationary pressures on local households.
“Since COVID has died down, we have leveled out to about double of where we were pre-COVID,” Hill said.
The capital project also is intended to give the nonprofit more space to operate its resource program, which helps connect clients to services beyond food assistance, such as housing, work opportunities and drug rehabilitation.
Hill said the organization assisted 2,000 clients through the resource program last year.
The details of the capital project are still being mapped out. Hill said Chesterfield Food Bank could opt to demolish its existing facility and replace it with new construction, or save portions of the existing structure to be part of a new building. A general contractor hasn’t been selected for the project yet.
Chesterfield Food Bank and Outreach Center is planning a $10 million project to double the size of its facility on Iron Bridge Road.
It’s aiming to break ground on the project next fall. A fundraising campaign is expected to formally launch around this time next year, though conversations with some potential donors are underway now, Hill said.
Hill said Chesterfield Food Bank is paying a fee to Sina in exchange for its help, and the hotel company is putting that money toward the project. Hill said the nonprofit and Patel got connected through a mutual contact, and Patel was quick to offer assistance when he became more familiar with the food bank’s mission.
“We just connected hearts,” Hill said. “I know that sounds a little sappy, but it was very important to him once he got a sense of what the food bank was doing and the impact in the community. He wanted to help.”
With several of Sina’s hotels in Chesterfield, Patel said he felt motivated to support a community resource. The Henrico-based company has more than 30 hotels operational or planned in six states, according to its website. In Chesterfield, Sina operates hotels in the North Chesterfield and Chester areas. It also has hotels near Colonial Heights and Petersburg.
“We’re not just a hotel company, we’re out here to help folks as best we can,” Patel said. “Any time you can improve the local community, it’s time well spent.”
In addition to project management, Sina is allowing the food bank to tap into its vendor network with an eye toward keeping construction costs low. Patel said a rezoning would be needed for the project.
Chesterfield Food Bank was established in 2010 and has been based at the 9-acre Iron Bridge property, which it owns, ever since. Hill said the building was originally a barn decades ago, and was later used as a gym before the nonprofit took it over.
In addition to handing out food at its Iron Bridge facility, the faith-based organization also does distribution events throughout Chesterfield.
Chesterfield Food Bank reported revenue of $7.6 million and $7 million in expenses in 2023, tax filings show.
Amid planning for the Chesterfield Food Bank project, Sina also has multiple new hotels in the works locally. The company recently started construction of a SpringHill Suites in eastern Henrico, and is also planning several new hotels in Chesterfield.