Burrito Brigade buys historic Whiteaker building for new food hub

Burrito Brigade has bought the old Center for Appropriate Transport building at 455 West 1st Avenue in Eugene’s Whiteaker neighborhood, setting up a larger and more permanent base for the nonprofit’s food rescue work. The plan is to remodel the historic building into a community food hub that can better store, prepare and distribute food across Eugene, Springfield and nearby communities.

The purchase matters because Burrito Brigade has spent years operating as a nimble food-rescue network, but the Whiteaker property gives it something different: a fixed site that could anchor its work for the long term. The organization says the hub will help it coordinate food rescue, storage and distribution more efficiently and consistently, moving more surplus food from partners into the hands of families. Burrito Brigade also says the project is about food as a human right, with a space intended for access, preservation, cooking, eating and celebrating local bounty while keeping usable food out of the waste stream.

The building itself adds a layer of history to the project. Dating to around 1930, it was originally built near the rails for agricultural packing, cold storage, lumber distribution and freight transfer. Burrito Brigade is working with McClain Construction on the remodel, and the organization wants the site to serve both as a modern food-access center and as a reuse of one of Eugene’s industrial-era properties.

The scale of Burrito Brigade’s current work shows why the expansion is drawing attention. The group says its 2025 efforts included 12,000 food boxes distributed, 475,000 pounds of food rescued and 27,000 burritos made and distributed. Its Weekend Burrito Brigade program typically serves 600 to 800 burritos each weekend, and its Waste to Taste pantry allows participants to choose food without proving income or hardship.

Even with the building purchased, the project is not ready to open. Burrito Brigade says it still needs about $300,000 to finish the commercial kitchen, food-storage infrastructure, ADA upgrades and other work needed to make the site functional. One report said the nonprofit hopes to open the headquarters to the public in 2027, after the remodel is complete.

The timing comes as more households face pressure at the grocery store. The Oregon Department of Human Services says federal SNAP eligibility changes under H.R. 1 began rolling out Oct. 1, 2025, and will continue over the course of a year. State officials say more than 740,000 people in Oregon receive SNAP, and more than 313,000 enrollees could be affected. Lane County materials also cite a Feeding America estimate that 16.5% of county residents are food insecure, underscoring the demand for a stronger food hub in Eugene’s Whiteaker district.