"Food Bank RGV moving into historic Pharr fruit warehouse this week" -- Pharr TX - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

The Valley Fruit Company built a giant citrus in tomato warehouse in the city of Pharr Texas in 1940s. They topped it with a beautiful neon sign. When the Valley for company moved, the warehouse sat for many years before being purchased, renovated, listed on the US National Register of Historic Places, and re-used as a food bank distribution center for the Valley.

The Valley Fruit Company warehouse is on the US National Register of Historic Places.

From the local newspaper The Monitor: (visit link)

"Food Bank RGV moving into historic Pharr fruit warehouse this week

Posted: Sunday, February 26, 2012 12:00 am
Elizabeth Findell

PHARR — After nearly 30 years, the Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley, which began as a food pantry in 1983, will be back in its hometown again.

The food bank is moving this week from North McAllen to the Valley Fruit Co. building in downtown Pharr, a distinctive 1940s-era warehouse that once held tomato and citrus distributors.

“It was good, because we came from Pharr,” said Terri Drefke, the food bank’s executive director. “I talked to the woman who started the pantry and she told me it was always her dream that it come back to Pharr.”

The facility, at 724 N. Cage Blvd., will officially open Wednesday with a 10 a.m. bash that will include folkloric dancers, music, remarks by Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples and tours of the new building.

Then the bank will continue the process of shifting its operations southeast.

“It’s going to take a while to clear out our 50,000-square-foot facility and move into a 108,000-square-foot facility,” food bank spokesman Omar Rodriguez said.

The food bank bought the approximately 16 acres in 2005, Drefke said, in a location that was ideal due to the size of the warehouse and its proximity to the U.S. 83 and U.S. 281 interchange. Food bank leaders have been working on the logistics of moving since that time. They built a walk-in freezer in 2010 and began construction on warehouse refurbishments in February 2011.

Fundraising and loans have covered about $9 million of the construction cost, but Drefke said the bank still hopes to raise about $450,000 to make up for the project coming in over budget.

The bank, which goes through about 31 million pounds of food per year, has double the amount of food storage in the new facility, Drefke said. It also includes a classroom for teaching about nutrition, a “free store” where teachers of low-income students can stock up on supplies and increased office and volunteer space.
Also, unlike its old location, the bank will have a pantry where people who stop by can get food directly on site.

“We figure people are going to come anyway,” Drefke said.

GOING HISTORIC

One fun challenge has been updating the building, which is on both national and state registers of historic places.

“Valley Fruit and Vegetables was such an important business to the Valley and to Pharr,” Drefke said. “It employed 1,500 people, more than the school district or the county at the time.”

The food bank spent some $35,000 to refurbish the classic “Valley Fruit Company Tomatoes” sign along Cage Boulevard.

In front of the building, where food bank leaders once thought they might put offices and storage, historical commissions instead insisted they put glass, so the building would look the same as it did in the 1940s, when it was open.

The revamp incorporates historic elements, like using restored wood from the site for the handsome paneled walls between offices. In other areas, exposed brick with the scribbled notations of past produce drivers will remain intact. The vaulted crisscross wooden ceiling will stay, too.

“Also, we rescued the caboose,” Rodriguez said. “That’s out there by a community garden we’re going to plant.”

The old train car sits behind an expanse of open land where food bank leaders plan to teach gardening, and possibly host some type of farmers market in an old cotton gin.

“I think if we’re doing a community garden, it might encourage people to do it in their own backyards,” Rodriguez said.
The building will also include a small museum area, with information about its history and artifacts from the property.
Several communities contributed funds toward the project, including Pharr, which gave the bank money to clean up its façade, Drefke said.

“I’ve heard a lot of companies around here are trying to spruce up their appearance, too,” Rodriguez said. “I think it’s going to be something Pharr can take pride in.”

Type of publication: Newspaper When was the article reported?: 02/26/2012 Publication: The Monitor Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: regional News Category: Business/Finance

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