Feed the Mass, a Portland food nonprofit, has purchased a historic building in Old Town and plans to turn it into a combined headquarters, grocery, and community hub. The deal is meant to grow the group’s food-rescue work, culinary training and neighborhood services in a central, walkable part of the city.
According to the Portland Business Journal, the organization bought the Nourish Building on NW First Avenue in Old Town. The outlet reports that Feed the Mass expects to dedicate the ground floor to a grocery while reserving classrooms or programming rooms for training and community events, and that the group will base its headquarters in the building.
On its own site, Feed the Mass describes itself as a Portland 501(c)(3) founded by Chef Jacobsen Valentine that grew out of pandemic relief efforts and culinary training programs. The nonprofit says it has moved from modest food distributions to preparing thousands of meals each week and has rescued more than 250,000 pounds of food, positioning the Old Town purchase as a step toward increasing its capacity. Existing operations include workforce training and community partnerships that the group says could be housed in the new space.
Plans for the Nourish Building
The Portland Business Journal reports that Feed the Mass intends to convert the structure into a blend of retail, classroom and staff areas while shifting its administrative operations there. Renovation plans, tenant layout and financing details are still being worked out, and there is no confirmed opening date yet. Leaders told the paper they hope the site will function as both a neighborhood grocery and a training ground.
Why It Matters
Nonprofit-operated grocery and training hubs can help expand access to fresh food while offering job-readiness pathways for local residents. Feed the Mass presents the purchase as a way to scale its job-training classes and to build a retail outlet for rescued product, potentially blending public service with earned revenue. Neighbors and preservation advocates are likely to pay close attention to how the historic building is adapted for modern community use…