City acquires land for Loaves & Fishes food bank warehouse

NEWS RELEASE - Distributed December 8, 2021 9:00 AM

Summary

The City of Nanaimo has acquired a property on East Wellington Road to support Loaves and Fishes’ goal of developing a new food distribution warehouse.

Purchased by the City at a cost of $1,300,000, the property is currently a vacant lot and is being used by Loaves & Fishes as an outdoor storage for their Empties 4 Food program. Council will consider a 30-year lease of the property to Loaves and Fishes at their December 20, 2021 meeting.

Council meetings can be watched on Shaw Community Channel 4 and on the City website at www.nanaimo.ca/meetings.

Link to Strategic Plan: Livability: “We will proactively plan for Nanaimo’s growth and focus on community infrastructure to support an inclusive, healthy, safe and desirable place to live.”

Key Points

The City of Nanaimo has purchased 1861 East Wellington Road to enable Loaves & Fishes Community Food Bank to develop a food recovery warehouse.
The warehouse will service citizens of Nanaimo as well as Vancouver Island.
Loaves & Fishes are seeking a 30-year lease of the property from the City and plan to build a 25,000sq.ft. warehouse to expand the Food 4U Recovery Program.
Loaves & Fishes has been operating out of their Central Warehouse at 210 Fry Street since 2014 which has become too small.

Quotes

"We are incredibly grateful to the City of Nanaimo for purchasing the land for our much needed warehouse expansion. By investing in the Loaves and Fishes infrastructure we will be able to provide an increasing abundance of food for people in need throughout our community for years to come."

Peter Sinclair

Executive Director

Loaves and Fishes Community Food Bank

Quick Facts

1861 East Wellington Road is 0.54 ha (1.34 acres) and is located adjacent to the Canada Post Distribution Centre on East Wellington Road.
The property is zoned I3 (High Tech Industrial) which supports the proposed warehouse use.

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