From Steve Markel:
Richmond’s East End Redevelopment Initiative Moves Forward
VCU plans health education and wellness center; Local Executive named to lead grocery store
RICHMOND, Va. (Nov. 16, 2017) – The Church Hill North Retail Center, a mixed-use project at 25th Street and Nine Mile Road, announces two important developments related to the grocery store.
Virginia Commonwealth University and VCU Health System will develop a health education and wellness center that will serve residents of Richmond’s East End. Additionally, Norm Gold, a FeedMore executive with decades of food services experience, including 24 years as a former grocer, will lead the development and management of the new full service grocery store.
Gold currently serves as the COO of FeedMore, Central Virginia’s core hunger-relief organization serving 34 cities and counties. Gold oversees the organization’s programs, including the Meals on Wheels, Kids Café, Weekend BackPacks and Mobile Pantry programs, as well as logistics and operations of the organizations Community Kitchen and Distribution Center. Prior to moving to Richmond, Gold served as COO of St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance in Phoenix, Arizona, where he coordinated with hundreds of agencies, farmers, growers and food manufacturers to expand the distribution of food to hungry people throughout the state. Before food banking, Gold worked in the retail grocery field for 24 years, managing Lucky Stores in Southern California and ABCO Foods in Phoenix, Arizona.
“Given Norm’s decades of experience in the grocery business and food banking, along with his sincere passion for helping those in need – there simply could not be a better fit. FeedMore’s significant loss will be the East End’s significant gain. We are committed to collaborating in any way towards the Project’s ultimate success and nationally recognized model status,” says Doug Pick, FeedMore’s CEO.
“I am so fortunate to be able to combine both of my passions in this project- helping people and communities and working in the grocery industry. Playing a role in helping our community thrive has been one of the most fulfilling aspects of my life and I’m truly looking forward to working with Kathie and Steve Markel and the incredible partners included in this project to make a positive difference for Church Hill,” says Gold.
Gold will begin his new post full-time with the 27,000-square-foot full service grocery store in January. Projected opening for the store is late 2018, bringing an estimated 65 to 70 job opportunities to the community.
The health education and wellness center will be located adjacent to the grocery store at the intersection of Nine Mile Road and 25th Street as part of the larger redevelopment initiative that also features apartments and the culinary institute operated by J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College. The VCU center will complement Bon Secours’ Sarah Garland Jones Center, which is already in the area. VCU and VCU Health System are working with partners to complement and enhance resources rather than duplicate them. More than 15 VCU and VCU Health System academic and clinical units have signed up to offer services and programming at the health education and wellness center, making it an inter- professional training ground for students and faculty.
The 5,600-square-foot center will include health education and screening spaces, a community room, student and faculty space, and ample parking, security and lighting. Most services will be provided at no charge by interdisciplinary teams of VCU faculty and students who are working either as a community service activity or as part of their academic program. The health education and wellness center is projected to open its doors in late 2018 and will be integrated into the customer experience at the grocery store, empowering consumers to make healthy choices and conveniently access services.
Through the leadership of VCU’s new Center for Urban Communities, the university is incorporating voices from the community into the planning process to create a sustainable initiative that reflects the East End’s needs and demonstrates VCU and VCU Health System’s collective commitment to the neighborhood. VCU has partnered with Engaging Richmond, part of VCU’s Center for Society in Health, to develop a community outreach plan that engages key stakeholders in the East End, including service providers, community leaders and residents. Ongoing engagement efforts will include surveys and focus groups as well as other ways to engage residents on an ongoing basis in the operation of the center. The planned services align with information gathered from initial engagement efforts with the residents as well as from a survey conducted by VCU and the 7th District Health and Wellness Initiative.
Additional information about the VCU Health and Wellness Center, please visit:
https://news.vcu.edu/article/East_End_launch
“I am elated that our community partners – Steve Markel, VCU and VCU Health System, American Heart Association, Bon Secours, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, the City of Richmond, and others – have come together, engaging with residents and collectively addressing East End resident’s articulated food access, health, economic, and education challenges,” said The Honorable Cynthia Newbille, councilwoman for Richmond’s East End 7th Voter District.
The Church Hill North Retail Center, supported by philanthropist Steve and Kathie Markel, is a comprehensive project for the revitalization of a portion of the Nine Mile Road and 25th Street corridors. It will provide new resources in an area of the East End identified as a food desert and where a majority of residents live in poverty and have poor health outcomes. In addition to the VCU Center and the Grocery Store, the center will include the Reynolds Culinary Institute and 54 apartments. The goal of the project is to help build a healthy community in Church Hill.
“This entire project is about building a healthy community,” Markel said. “It’s not just a grocery store, or a wellness center or a school individually. It’s an opportunity to bring many great community partners together to create opportunities, resources and healthy options for the residents.”
89 comments
FB_687779762599
FB_10106185470090237
FB_10154398100907252
FB_10100312631860155
FB_10211654737069618
FB_10211913259128604
FB_10202668046299955
FB_10154431156388843
FB_10154524887197795
FB_1528534177160811
FB_1042595232512589
FB_10207313630871908
FB_712618308888515
FB_10100362970301936
FB_1206119449424292
FB_10154252064367443
FB_10154914521803151
FB_10209571478017981
FB_10154150990097237
FB_10210094241326285
FB_10155069980357929
FB_10211253610767872
FB_10103353553768317
FB_10154313113327683
FB_10207828174918255
FB_690888511083447
FB_10154897829870379
FB_10103700773023246
FB_10211502471534569
FB_10155039609999267
FB_10154823233251649
FB_10209774429175794
FB_10154256897531811
FB_10209734991303980
FB_10211297045484660
FB_10211946452435467
FB_10109434695830804
FB_10157827031140304
FB_1452194441475173
FB_1604807452863122
FB_10154388163953994
FB_10209173955363739
FB_10154662230627211
FB_10154221004478105
FB_1769056513111749
FB_10209205122057792
FB_1383093521731584
FB_10210698923382385
FB_261214597635994
FB_10215017597179942
FB_10207758935633229
FB_10209558772637320
FB_10207518853200739
FB_10158473591905431
FB_10209800806717481
FB_10212179465303225
FB_10208986438397897
FB_10208580448423799
FB_1272578816098645
FB_10158085761935495
FB_10155729018376605
FB_10208383498056243
FB_10154097195273021
FB_1799722120266626
FB_10155654639245115
FB_10212535354313157
FB_2047429275580871
FB_10214044477123094
FB_10155380131988498
FB_10209287955329111
FB_10156795068104838
FB_10210147551276416
FB_10210622998756525
FB_1533496113361497
FB_1903966619629596
FB_1445546928809940
FB_10155392905238645
FB_10155299793611062
FB_10154764242975132
FB_10103177087194148
I think I’ll fully believe the grocery store part once I see more physical progress it being built. Cause they’ve been saying that for years now
Mr. Markel – Thanks much for your philanthropy. I guess since private enterprise is not building a grocery store, you and others are. My concern is, after reading this somewhat dense piece, it is not clear to me who is funding this. If you are, fine. If, however, VCU (i.e., the state) is, well . . . not so fine, as government has no business being in the grocery business, food desert or not. I hope you or someone clarifies this.
I have met Mr. Markel and heard him speak several times on this project, including 7th District meetings sponsored by Councilwoman Newbille. The Markels are the funding source for the supermarket. The government is not going into the supermarket business. The VCU clinic portion is a rental of a small portion of the space which will provide health services at that location. The market is a fabulous addition to the community. I am looking forward to being a regular shopper there.
#2 – Right on…although if the government has gone into the grocery business that means this is coming out of your pocket on some level or other…local, state, federal. So your tax dollars may be helping to pay for some person’s groceries or health as well as a place to shop or be treated.
GREAT NEWS! Love this.
#2 – You may find this article published on the VCU News website helpful to explain the relationship VCU will have with the new project.
https://news.vcu.edu/article/East_End_launch
I’m just wondering how this initiative will truly benefit the local community which is at risk of gertrification. Will the grocery store provide fresh foods so desperately needed in a food desert, or high cost organic and specialty items the local community can’t afford? Will the apartments over the grocery store be affordable to the local population, or will they be high priced units that pull in the rich and displace the poor? Will the local community feel like outsiders are cming in and taking over their neighborhood? Who will be their voice?
Thanks to the Markels for their funding. We currently shop at Trader Joe’s, Fresh Market, or Krogers. Fresh produce, Service, cleanliness, and ZERO LOITERING are key. Prepared meals and international selection are a bonus. Let’s see how community feedback is synthesized to serve the diverse populations – at sufficient profit for the investors.
I’m looking forward to this. The only issue I have is the workers throwing trash in my yard. I happen to catch one of them throwing an apple in my yard and I knocked on the window for him to pick it up