Second Harvest Food Bank nears completion of $15M renovation

Press Release |

Second Harvest Food Bank became the largest food bank in the world’s history back in September 2005, with the help of America’s Second Harvest, now Feeding America. The New Orleans headquarters temporarily operated from a closed Wal-Mart in Baker, LA until they were able to return home following Hurricane Katrina. They also opened a facility in Lafayette in 2006 in addition to their headquarters here in New Orleans. Second Harvest Food Bank leads the fight against hunger in South Louisiana by providing food access, advocacy, education, and disaster response.

Their current New Orleans facility is located at 700 Edwards Ave. in a 200-000 square-foot hub, and it has recently been renovated in a $15 million project. The move to their current building happened in 2010, but they quickly realized a renovation was necessary to meet the growing needs of the community. Renovations to the facility include a new roof, air conditioning, a kitchen, showers, bathrooms, and meeting rooms. These renovations and upgrades aim to double services for those in need, and they currently already distribute 50 million meals a year.

Image courtesy of DonahueFavret

Services Provided by Moses Engineers

Moses Engineers provided the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection designs for this renovation. Thanks to the new air conditioning system the facility is now able to protect the food and also cool the hundreds of volunteers that work at the warehouse. In addition to the ongoing needs of feeding those at risk for hunger, the Second Harvest Food Bank is also a disaster responder. They work alongside the National Guard for anything that may happen in South Louisiana, and during a natural disaster the warehouse is able to turn into a dormitory thanks to the addition of showers.

To read more about Second Harvest’s renovation check out the full article on City Business by Lance Traweek. The architect for the project is New Orleans-based Eskew Dumez Ripple and the contractor is Donahue Favret Contractors of Mandeville.