New Harry Chapin food bank hits major construction milestone

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Harry Chapin Hunger Action Center's new 110,000-square-foot food bank facility reached a major construction milestone as crews finished the installation of all exterior walls in just seven days, leaving only one opening for heavy machinery access.

The President and CEO of the Food Bank, Richard Leber, gave FOX 4 an inside tour. The massive project off State Road 82 and Ortiz in Fort Myers represents a significant expansion of the organization's current facility and will serve as the region's primary hub upon completion in November 2026.

Construction progress accelerates

Leber tells me that construction crews achieved a remarkable feat by putting up approximately 60 wall segments in one week.

Leber said the rapid progress demonstrates the expertise of local builder DeAngelis Diamond. Steel installation is scheduled to begin Monday, Jan. 19, marking the next phase of construction.

"I'm semi speechless here. This is just amazing," Leber said. "When we were in here last week, there was literally one segment of the wall we watched go up. Now they're all up, and it really brings home how important this is and how big of a change this is going to be for the food bank."

Expanded capacity to meet growing need

The new facility will house enormous refrigerators and freezers large enough for forklifts to drive inside and move pallets of food. The refrigerated storage area extends to the building's full height with racking systems throughout.

Leber projects the food bank will distribute 50 million pounds of food annually by 2030 and as much as 100 million pounds by 2050. The new facility provides four to five times the capacity of the current building.

"This building is going to be critically important for Southwest Florida," Leber said. "We project that need for services and our support is going to continue to grow far beyond where it is currently, as the area continues to grow, as people still continue to struggle with issues of affordability and increased cost of housing and insurance."

Building features and layout

The new Harry Chapin Hunger Action Center will include multiple specialized areas, according to Leber.

"Where we're standing right now be an enormous freezer, an enormous refrigerator, big enough to drive a forklift into, bring enough to take food in and out of by the pallet," Leber said.

The facility will feature:

10 loading docks for tractor-trailer deliveries (compared to three at the current facility)
Massive refrigerators and freezers with forklift access
Public meeting spaces on the ground floor
Administrative offices on the second floor
Expanded volunteer spaces
An on-site pantry to serve nearby neighbors
Food storage areas extending to the ceiling with racking systems
An elevator connecting the two floors

"Up in the area to the front, we have public meeting spaces. We have a pantry to serve neighbors who live nearby and need food. We have volunteer spaces over on that end, and then upstairs will be where our administrative offices are," Leber said.

The facility's design separates refrigerated storage on one end from dry goods storage on the other, with loading docks spanning the back of the building for efficient food handling operations.

"The refrigerated stuff is on this end, and the stuff that doesn't need refrigeration is on that end of the building," Leber said. "And then we've got 10 loading docks across the back, because we'll have tractor trailer loads of food coming in and going out, and our own trucks making deliveries and making local pickups of food every day as well."

Addressing current limitations

The organization has operated from its current building for 15 years, during which time it has grown roughly tenfold. The existing facility now presents significant constraints.

"These days, we're finding that it is too small, that the land it sits on is too tight, which makes it hard to maneuver trucks in and out," Leber said. "It has in comparison to this building, it has three loading docks that we can use for big trucks. This one has 10."

The current single-story building lacks space for expanded volunteer programs and community services that the new facility will accommodate.

"This building is about twice as high as our current building. It has room for a pantry to serve our neighbors. It has expanded and improved volunteer spaces so we can use more volunteers, and it's got an enormous increase in just overall size to allow us to store a lot more food and distribute a lot more food," Leber said.

Project funding and community support

The entire project costs over $50 million, which includes plans for a smaller facility in Collier County. The organization is conducting a $30 million capital campaign to complete financing for the construction.

As a privately funded nonprofit organization, the Harry Chapin Food Bank maintains separate fundraising efforts for the building project and ongoing operations. Community members can support the project through the organization's website or by phone.

"We are soliciting donations from anybody who cares to support this," Leber said. "They can go to our website and make a donation, or they can pick up the phone and call, no donation too big. No donation too small."

Leber explained the organization separates its fundraising efforts to ensure transparency.

"We are a privately funded non-profit organization. So in addition to this project, which is a once in a lifetime thing, we have our ongoing fundraising to support the normal operations of the food bank," Leber said. "Money that is designated to go to build the building is used to build the building. Money that's designated to support the operations of the food bank is in a separate bucket."

Current facility transition

The organization plans to sell its current building once the new facility opens. The proceeds will help complete the construction project, and Leber noted the current building would be more valuable in other hands given the food bank's growth beyond its capacity.

"We are selling the current building," Leber said. "We've really outgrown it. I think it's probably more valuable in somebody else's hands. And frankly, we need the money to complete this project."

Partnership excitement

The food bank works with 150 partner agencies throughout Southwest Florida. These organizations have been involved in planning discussions for years and are eager to see the expanded capacity come online.

"This project has been in the planning stages for years. We've been talking to our partners all along about what they needed, about what kinds of projections we all have for how many people we're going to need to take care of, and what the capabilities of this building had to be," Leber said. "So they're all very excited to see this start all to come together."

The new facility will enable more efficient food sourcing and distribution, helping partner agencies better serve their communities during challenging economic times.

"It's going to be a lot more capacity for us to serve them better and to take care of all of our neighbors in Southwest Florida that need our help," Leber said.

Timeline and next steps

With steel installation beginning next week, the project will continue through interior work including plumbing and electrical systems throughout the summer and fall. The organization expects to begin moving operations to the new facility in November 2026.

"This is moving along rapidly," Leber said. "I hear that they're going to start bringing in steel next week, but there's going to be a long period of time where the building shell is finished, and there's a lot of interior work, plumbing and electric, electrical and all of that stuff going on. So we hope to move into this building about November of this year."

The rapid construction progress reflects years of planning, land acquisition nearly two years ago, and months of site preparation work that preceded the dramatic wall installation milestone achieved this week.

"We've been in the planning stages for this for about three years. We've been we bought the land almost two years ago. We've been clearing the land and getting the site ready for more than six months," Leber said.

Leber praised the community support that made the project possible.

"We are so grateful to everyone who's helped us get to this point, to the donors who helped support and fund the project, to all of our partner organizations that have contributed ideas, to all of our partners that have helped us with the design and construction of this building," Leber said. "This is a group effort, and there's no way we could have done it without the tremendous support of our community."

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