January 13, 2020

For some reason, I can never keep plants alive. Maybe I don’t water them enough. Or perhaps I water them too much! Could it be the amount of light I expose them to? You know what, it’s probably due to my cats eating the leaves off every plant I’ve ever owned. Either way, I’ve never been able to provide the perfect environment for green life to thrive. And back in 2015, Shannon O’Malley and Brad Doyle were having similar troubles. But for them, the problem was the Florida heat.

Luckily, the couple found a solution to their woes. When they took their plants inside and put lights on them, the plants flourished. Brad and Shannon didn’t know it yet, but this revelation would end up being the seed that would sprout into an agricultural movement in Downtown St. Pete. After extensive research, the duo realized they could use their backgrounds in computer engineering and IT skills to build indoor hydroponic farms.

And so in January 2016, the duo purchased an overrun junkyard at 2001 2nd Avenue South in the Warehouse Arts District for $125,000 to house their new venture — Brick Street Farms. After months of environmental inspections, permitting and zoning obstacles, and electrical and plumbing issues, Brick Street Farms kicked off their first grow cycle inside three 320 square-foot shipping containers in October 2016.

Backed by proprietary technology developed by Brad and Shannon, Brick Street Farms is now able to produce the equivalent of 2-3 acres of agriculture per shipping container. The farm cultivates a variety of leafy greens including heads of bibb, butterhead and romaine lettuce, kale, basil, and rainbow chard.

Best of all, the growing process uses no dirt, no pesticides and much less water than traditional farming. Needless to say, their concept caught the attention of many local residents, and restaurants, such as the Vinoy, Oak & Ola, Oxford Exchange, and Pacific Counter.

For the past three years, Brick Street Farms has been feverishly trying to keep up with production. “When we started, we really just thought we’d be a wholesale production facility to grow and sell to restaurants, and maybe grocery stores,” says O’Malley. "But the level of interest and inquiries we get from everyone from chefs to elementary schools, we realized we couldn’t be closed off to the public.”

This year will be Brick Street Farm’s biggest yet. After bringing on a few investment partners in late 2019, the hydroponic farm will begin construction on a community-focused grow facility and will also dramatically ramp up production to satisfy demand from a new Publix partnership.

The current farm, located at 2001 2nd Avenue South, will be transformed into the Brick Street Cultivation Hub, which will include an expanded market, more container farms, a commissary kitchen, a beautiful courtyard, and pop-up event space.

Right now there are four container farms on site, but once the Cultivation Hub is complete, there will be a total of ten, stacked two high. Not only will Brick Street continue to grow lettuces, kales, and herbs, but they’ll be expanding into other products, such as tomatoes and strawberries.

“People always laugh at us, but one product we can grow exceptionally well in the containers is strawberries,” says O’Malley. “We haven’t sold them because we live in the strawberry capital of the world, but ours are phenomenal so we are going to give them a try and see if people want them.”

The largest addition to the property will be a new 6,500 square foot mixed-use building. The first floor will contain a 1,800 square foot farm-to-table market featuring greens grown on-site, as well as items from other local farms, like dairy, fruits, and vegetables, which cannot be grown in Brick Street’s shipping containers. 

Additionally, the market will carry sustainable products from other local businesses, such as baked goods, health and beauty items, apothecary products, grab-and-go meals, beer and wine, and much more. Well-known local companies like St Pete Ferments, Nightshift Wax Company, Mother Kombucha, and Sunny Culture will also be available at the market.

A coffee concept will be located in the center of the Cultivation Hub. “It’ll be a full-time community space serving coffee, beer and wine,” says O’Malley. “Customers can relax in the beautifully landscaped courtyard, connect to the wifi and just hang out.” Two local coffee companies are currently in negotiations to lease the space.

An existing 416 square foot building will be converted into a commissary kitchen. This will be the new home of Brick Street Canning Company, helmed by Illene Sofranko, founder of The Urban Canning Company, which recently closed up shop. “We will be revising all of her core products and introducing an all-new line of products as well,” says O’Malley.

When Sofranko isn’t using the space, it’ll be rented out to local food makers. A few local restaurants will be hosting pop-up events at Brick Street, including Greenstock, Pete’s General, and Top Chef alum Jeffrey Jew, whose new St. Pete restaurant, Lingr on 6th St, opens this Spring. 

“The Cultivation Hub will be dog-friendly and kid-friendly,” says O’Malley. “It’s just going to be a multi-functional property centered on food.” Construction begins in February and is tentatively scheduled to open in November.

If the Cultivation Hub wasn’t exciting enough, Brick Street Farms has also leased a warehouse on 22nd Avenue South that will serve as a manufacturing facility as well as house all farming operations while the Cultivation Hub is under construction.

Brick Street Farms recently started selling their greens at a Publix Supermarket in Lakeland, the grocery chain’s test market. Feedback has been stellar and Publix is interested in expanding the partnership. “We have been selling 12 times their projected volume,” says O’Malley. “As our production grows, we will begin expanding to more cities.” Brick Street Farms is slated to hit St. Pete Publix stores in early March followed by Tampa and Central Florida thereafter.

With interest from Publix and a growing list of wholesale partners, the 22nd Avenue South warehouse will serve as a farming container assembly line. “It’ll be like a car plant,” says O’Malley. “We have an entire construction crew ready to begin building the farm containers.”

The goal is to build 60 containers in 2020 and an additional 100 in 2021. So if Brick Street’s goal is met, they’ll be operating around 170 container farms or the equivalent of 340 to 510 acres of agriculture by the end of 2021.

BRICK STREET FARMS RED LEAF LETTUCE

So, where will all of these container farms live? Everywhere! One of the core tenants of Brick Street Farms is to decentralize farming. In other words, the Tampa market will be served by Brick Street farm containers in Tampa, and Orlando produce will come from farm containers in Orlando.

“We have been overwhelmed by the response from the community, both from individual households as well as our restaurant accounts,” says O’Malley. 

At St. Pete Rising, we couldn’t be more excited for Shannon O’Malley, Brad Doyle and the future of Brick Street Farms, a true homegrown local business. Be sure to follow them on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date on well their produce will hit St. Pete shelves and for the debut of the Brick Street Cultivation Hub at 2001 2nd Avenue South.