Meridian Food Bank Needs to Find a New Home: Developer Who Bought the Church That Houses Food Bank Says He’Ll Help With Relocation

By Kathleen Kreller, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

Jun. 13–The Meridian Food Bank may soon have to find — and pay for — a new location. A developer has bought the church where the volunteer organization works.

Developer Dave Buich said he has no firm plans for the Valley Shepherd Church of the Nazarene at Pine and Main Streets downtown because the church is still leasing the building. But when the time comes to redevelop the property, Buich said, he will help the food bank find a home. That likely will happen within the next year and a half, he said. The church is building a new home south of Interstate 84.

“We just have to start dialogue with them and see what we can do. I haven’t had a conversation with anyone there,” Buich said. “I’m sure the community will step up and help these guys. I would help them with their relocation.”

Initial plans for the church site include boutiques, offices, restaurants and turning the existing sanctuary into a performing arts center, Buich said, but more specific plans for the building are not prepared. Neither church officials nor Buich would disclose the price of the recent sale.

Food bank volunteers feed hundreds of hungry Treasure Valley residents each year, said Bryan Nida, assistant director. Last year, the food bank handed out 1,418 baskets with more than 42,000 pounds of food. The volunteers store food and operate at the church rent-free. Food bank organizers worry they will have to come up with cash to rent commercial space.

“We are looking, scouting and trying to find new places and talk to the community and tell them what our needs are,” Nida said. “We spend all our money on giving food to all the people that need it.”

Food bank leaders hope to stay in Meridian’s downtown core, because many clients come from that area, Nida said. The food bank hopes for at least 1,000 square feet, larger than the existing space. But that kind of retail space comes with a hefty price tag in a growing downtown, Nida said.

Rich Allison, owner of Meridian Real Estate, said commercial real estate goes for about $14 per square foot.

“I would think they would find a location in another church,” Allison said. “That would be the ideal thing.”

The food bank has operated at the Nazarene church since April 2001. The group’s monthly budget is less than $500 a month, which is used to buy goods from the Idaho Foodbank for 15 cents per pound, Nida said.

“That means we don’t have a lot of what we’d like to have, like juice and diapers for kids. That’s a monthly issue every time, what we can afford to buy,” Nida said. “It’s hard to ask for what we really need, and that’s cash to see us into that next place.”

Nida said he fears the food bank may be pushed to a less-central place.

“The good economy is bringing people here from outside the area. Those people need assistance short term,” Nida said. “Unfortunately, with development the way it is, everybody is building up the downtown core, and that’s going to make it more difficult.”

Meridian’s population has grown from around 9,500 people in 1990 to more than 66,000 people today.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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