The largest farm in Brooklyn, New York, is coming to the Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT)! Yes, this massive five million square foot building complex located at 140 58th Street, in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, will soon house the largest rooftop farm in the United States!
The Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT), formerly referred to as the U.S. Army Military Ocean Terminal, was built in 1919 and served as the largest military supply base in the U.S. through WWII. During WWII 56,000 military and civilian personnel were employed there, and over three million troops and 37 million tons of military supplies passed through the facility. The most famous soldier to deploy from BAT was Elvis Presley. He greeted fans and a dozens of photojournalists at BAT in September of 1958, when he shipped off from Brooklyn to Germany.
New York City purchased BAT from the federal government in 1981 with the intention of restoring the complex to a light manufacturing warehouse.The New York City Economic Development Corporation now manages the BAT complex and today, over three million square feet of space has been restored for use by a diverse mix of businesses. Now a planned multi-acre, state-of-the-art, hydroponic greenhouse farm will be built on 100,000 square feet of rooftop space by BrightFarms, Inc., in partnership with Salmar Properties LLC. The farm will grow up to 1 million pounds of local produce per year, including tomatoes, lettuces and herbs. This farm will cultivate a new national model for urban agriculture.
Enough crops will be grown to meet the fresh vegetable consumption needs of up to 5,000 New Yorkers. Construction is scheduled to start in the fall of 2012, with the first harvest expected the spring of 2013, and will be sold to local supermarket chains.
An example of a hydroponic greenhouse --photo source
The Bright Farms greenhouse will join a half-dozen commercial rooftop farms in New York City. Brooklyn Grange already runs a one-acre operation in Long Island City, Queens, and Gotham Greens, another company, has a hydroponic rooftop garden in the Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
I'm really excited about this new trend and I hope this local supply of fresh vegetables will make their prices more affordable to all New Yorkers. Do you have hydroponic greenhouses in your area? What do you think about them?
I'm adding this post to the following blog events:
Foodie Friday
Fertilizer Friday
Mom Trends Friday Food
Seasonal Sundays
Scenic Sundays
It's Bloomin' Tueday
Our World Tuesday
Outdoor Wednesday
Watery Wednesday
Many Thanks to all the blog hosts!
