Warehouse expected to be completed by summer
The Food Bank of the Hudson Valley celebrated a milestone last week as the final steel beam was set into place on the new 40,000 square-foot distribution center being constructed in the Town of Montgomery. A topping off ceremony was held on March 7 before a large crowd of investors, volunteers, and beneficiaries of the food bank, as well as local officials.
Patrick Moore, Baxter’s Director of Construction, explained the origin of the topping off ceremony is about 1,000 years old and started in Scandinavia. The ceremony serves to present the building to the public for the first time while finishing a risky part of the project without injury.
Matthew Stoddard, business manager for Local 417, the iron workers union, added once the building is open, the final beam serves to wish continued love and well-being to everybody who works and visits the facility.
“It’s a celebration of not only the structure of the building, but what happens after the structure is done,” he added.
In 2021, the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley’s Board of Advisors began looking to acquire land to build a new warehouse when it was realized the Cornwall-on-Hudson facility could no longer handle the demand for food, nor was the Hudson Street building suitable to serve as a warehouse.
The demand for food has been increasing every year for the past four years. In 2023, the Food Bank provided more than 21 million pounds of food to more than 400 partner programs in the Hudson Valley. The current distribution center is half the size of the new building, so food is often brought from the Food Bank’s Latham distribution center.
Tom Nardacci, Chief Executive Officer of the Regional Food Bank, said about eight million pounds of food is processed out of the current facility with another 12 million coming from Albany County. Going forward, the new warehouse will be able to support all 20 million pounds and more.
“Food insecurity unfortunately remains a growing issue,” Nardacci said. “One in ten people in our service area experience food insecurity. This project is a generational investment in improving the charitable food system in the Hudson Valley and is one of the most significant capital investments in the state aimed at combating food insecurity. The new distribution center will allow us to source more food in the region, create new dynamic partnerships, and help us to close the meal gap that exists in the region.”
The new 40,000 square-foot building will provide increased capacity to obtain, store, and distribute food donations to six counties in the Hudson Valley including Orange, Ulster, Dutchess, Rockland, Sullivan, and Putnam.
The current facility only has a usable capacity of 20,000 square feet and the ability to stack food pallets two tiers high. The new warehouse will have a high enough ceiling to allow five pallets to be stacked. The Montgomery facility will also contain a 5,000 square foot cooler and freezer compared to the 1,000 square foot box in Cornwall-on-Hudson.
The new warehouse is expected to open this summer, at which point the 25 workers in Cornwall-on-Hudson will be moved to their new location, joining 25 additional hires, as well as the 10,000 volunteers who help sort the food.
Product will continue to come from the USDA or local farms and producers, Nardacci said, as well as from distribution centers and regional stores. Food will be brought to the new facility where it will be inventoried, organized, sorted, and distributed to food pantries, school programs, and soup kitchens.
Between 40 and 50 food pantries and organizations will be able to visit daily to pick up orders, as well as shop the dock for additional food and produce which will be put out everyday.
Major funding for the $23.8 million project includes two grants from the state – a $10.7 million award to the Town of Montgomery through the Community Development Block Grant CARES program and administered by New York State Homes and Community Renewal, and a $3.7 million award from New York State Empire State Development recommended by the Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council. The remainder is being funded through a capital campaign.
