$3.5M Indoor Farming Facility Could Break Ground In June

By Mark Peterson |  Posted: Tue 5:58 PM, May 16, 2017  |  Updated: Tue 6:41 PM, May 16, 2017

The construction of an indoor farming operation in inner-city South Bend could begin next month.

City officials expressed a willingness Tuesday to buy into the proposed $3.5 million dollar project—but not sight unseen.

“We’d like to at least get a visual on what those look like before we put our dollars and investment. We hope it will enhance the neighborhood. We don’t want it to be a detriment to the neighborhood,” said Jeff Rea, Chairman of the South Bend Industrial Revolving Loan Fund Board.

While there are plenty of pictures that show what the inside of a vertical farming operation in South Bend would look like, there’s not a single depiction of what it would look like on the outside.

“So, from what we’ve been told is that the building would be more like a tent structure, not, made out of fabric, not a solid,” said Tim Corcoran with South Bend’s Community Investment Department. “I don’t know of any other fabric buildings in our community.”

The proposed indoor growing facility would stand a story and a half tall and be window-less. “So it's a temporary facility if you will, it's a tent-like facility, so tent conjures up a different images for a lot of different people,” said Jeff Rea.

It was the impact on the overall image of the neighborhood off Sample Street, north of the Ivy Tech campus that had some worried. Every neighboring building near the vacant lot where the farm would be built is made of brick.
Members of South Bend’s Industrial Revolving Loan Fund Board today tentatively approved a $700,000 loan for the project. Final approval will come only if the ‘ayes’ still have it—after pictures of the proposed facility are provided and perused.

“Ultimately we're in support of the loans, we approved the loan today contingent on the visual, us approving the visual piece of that too, so we're going to ask the owner to give us some pictures and help us understand what this operation is going to look like,” said Jeff Rea.

After getting a peek at the pictures, members of the loan board plan to hook up by conference call to consider giving final approval. Officials say the developer, Green Sense Farms, wants to break ground on the South Bend project in June.

The vertical farming facility would be a place where green leafy vegetables would be grown year-round, under artificial light, and carefully controlled conditions. The facility would also be a place where Ivy Tech students could earn a degree.

“Food sustainability is an important issue that is just going to continue to become more important as arable farmland is reduced in Indiana and around the world for that matter. So from the use perspective, I find it a very interesting thing and I’m glad that they’re trying to trial this in South Bend,” said Corcoran.