Here’s what BrightFarms says its 100,000 square-foot hydroponic greenhouse will look like when its set up at Riverfront Park. It will supply fresh vegetables to Midtown and other parts of Kansas City.A $4 million greenhouse at the riverfront will produce a million pounds of tomatoes, lettuce and herbs a year, officials announced Monday.
A $4 million greenhouse at the riverfront will produce a million pounds of tomatoes, lettuce and herbs a year, officials announced Monday.
BrightFarms, known for rooftop gardens in New York City, and the Port Authority of Kansas City have reached a deal for the 100,000-square-foot hydroponic greenhouse.
It will be on five acres by Berkley Riverfront Park and is a city breakthrough after years of failure to attract riverfront investment there.
“I’d like to make Kansas City just as famous for it’s local baby greens as it is for its barbeque.” Paul Lightfoot, CEO of BrightFarms
The greenhouse, expected to produce enough fresh vegetables to feed 5,000 people a year, will create 25 full-time jobs.
“We believe Kansas City needs a better tomato,” BrightFarms CEO Paul Lightfoot said at a city hall press conference spiced by tomatoes on tables. The firm will contract with a supermarket group that will buy the produce, he said.
Mayor Sly James said some of it will spread to provide fresh local goods to the food desert east of Troost and other areas. The project also feeds Kansas City’s growing reputation as a green city and will result in other green projects, he and other officials said.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver called it “a trigger” for future announcements.
Lightfoot said they chose the city partly because it had established itself as an urban leader.
“Kansas City is hot right now and BrightFarms is hot for Kansas City,” he said.
The firm’s local produce is fresher, healthier and avoids transportation costs and the greenhouse gases that come with them, he said.
The company that started in New York in 2006 has been expanding and last year announced plans for a greenhouse in the St. Louis area.
Kansas City Councilman Scott Wagner, who was active in getting the local project, said it will shift markets and prompt growth.
“We are sowing the seeds,” he said.
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