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US - CHICAGO - VIDEO: Vertical Farm Wilder Fields Opening Calumet City Location
The anchor of a Calumet City strip mall at 1717 East-West Road left five years ago. Now a local small business plans to turn this red store -- Green
Wilder Fields Plans To Fully Open In 2023
By Leah Hope
CALUMET CITY, Ill. (WLS) -- A vertical farm is coming to the south suburbs.
The anchor of a Calumet City strip mall at 1717 East-West Road left five years ago. Now a local small business plans to turn this red store -- green.
"We'll be growing a whole range of leafy green, many of which may be familiar to the consumer, many of which the consumer has never tasted," Wilder Fields Founder Jake Counne said. "We're really excited to blow people's minds with varieties they've never had."
Wilder Fields operates a vertical farm in Chicago and will open a larger location in the south suburbs, selling produce locally to residents, restaurants, and markets by making use of all the space, floor to ceiling.
"To be able to take big-box space like this and reintroduce jobs that might have been lost, boosting the foot traffic that might have been lost ... to come in and revitalize that corridor is really exciting for us," Counne said.
The red paint was from the previous tenant. Target had been there for 20 years but closed in 2015.
For those in the area, a small business growing produce and adding jobs is welcomed news.
"Twenty four acres of farmland in the 135,000-square-foot building is pretty exciting when you think about it," Mayor Michelle Markiewicz Qualkinbush said.
Calumet City 7th Ward Alderman Anthony Smith agrees.
"We've been a food desert for a number of years so this actually fills that void," Smith said. "(It) allows us to get fresh produce and at an affordable price and bring jobs."
Residents think it's a great idea, too.
"To have an indoor farm that we can come to year-round will be phenomenal," Vicki Brown said
Wilder Fields plans to start production next year and be fully operational in 2023, with not only retail space but an Education Center to show how their organic greens are grown year-round indoors vertically.
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US: Vacant For Five Years, A Former Target in Calumet City Gets New Life As An Indoor Vertical Farm Growing Greens For The Chicago Area
The 135,000-square-foot building in the River Oaks shopping center will house stacks of trays growing kale, arugula and other leafy greens under artificial lights. A retail shop on-site will sell the produce to the community and invite people in to learn about how indoor farming works
CHICAGO TRIBUNE | JUL 15, 2020
Jake Counne, founder of Wilder Fields, is seen July 14, 2020, inside an empty Target he plans to convert to an indoor farm, in Calumet City. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
A former Target that’s been sitting vacant in Calumet City for five years will be reborn as an indoor vertical farm producing locally grown greens for the Chicago area.
The 135,000-square-foot building in the River Oaks shopping center will house stacks of trays growing kale, arugula and other leafy greens under artificial lights. A retail shop on-site will sell the produce to the community and invite people in to learn about how indoor farming works.
Once at full capacity, Wilder Fields will employ 80 people and produce 25 million heads of lettuce a year that will be available in grocery stores across the region, said founder Jake Counne. Wilder Fields is the new name of the company, which previously was called Backyard Fresh Farms.
The property was exactly what Counne envisioned when he set out to repurpose existing buildings as indoor farms to supply fresh produce to cities far from the growing fields of California and Arizona.
An empty Target that Jake Counne, founder of Wilder Fields, plans to convert to an indoor farm in Calumet City. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
As retail giants close stores, a trend that’s been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Counne hopes to put the buildings they leave behind to sustainable use.
“We think this is very repeatable,” said Counne, who was a real estate investor before he became an agricultural entrepreneur. “There is a huge amount of vacant anchor retail space.”
Calumet City, which borders Chicago’s southern edge, acquired the building from Target and will lease it to Wilder Fields for 12 months, Counne said. After that, he plans to purchase the property from the city.
Counne expects to break ground by the end of this year and have the first phase of the redevelopment completed by early next year. After operating at a smaller scale to work out the kinks, Counne plans to finish developing the site by 2023. A group of investors is funding the first phase of the project. He declined to say how much funding he has received.
Produce grown locally indoors has gained popularity with consumers in recent years for environmental and quality reasons. It uses less land and water than traditional agriculture and travels far shorter distances, so the product is fresher and lasts longer when it gets into consumers’ hands. Growing year-round in controlled environments also cuts down on waste and contamination and avoids the challenges of unpredictable weather.
The Chicago area is home to several greenhouses that sell greens commercially, including Gotham Greens in Chicago’s Pullman neighborhood and BrightFarms in Rochelle, both of which have recently expanded. But vertical farms, which use artificial light rather than sunlight, have struggled to succeed at a large scale.
Counne believes he can make it profitable with lower-cost automation, which he has been testing at a small pilot facility at The Plant, a food business incubator in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood.
He’s developed robotics to reduce the amount of time workers spend climbing ladders to tend to plants. For example, an automated lift collects trays of ready plants and brings them to an assembly line of workers for harvest. He’s also developed a system of cameras and artificial intelligence software that prompts the environment to automatically adjust to optimize growing conditions.
Jake Counne, founder of Wilder Fields, on July 14, 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Wilder Fields’ pricing will be in line with greenhouse-grown lettuces, which typically retail at $2.99 to $3.99 for a clamshell.
Though its first products will be standards like spring mix, spinach and basil, the plan is to also sell more unique varieties that people may not have tasted before. Among those Counne tested during his pilot were spicy wasabi arugula, tart red sorrel and horseradish-tinged red mizuna.
Counne is proud that his first farm is bringing fresh vegetables and jobs to an area that needs both. Parts of Calumet City are in a food desert.
Counne will be hiring for a variety of positions, from harvesters to software engineers to executives. He plans to implement a training program that will allow people to move from entry-level roles to positions managing the computer algorithms.
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz covers the food industry for the Chicago Tribune's business section. Prior beats include workplace issues, the retail sector and lifestyle features, plus stints at RedEye, the Daily Herald and the City News Service. Alexia grew up in Washington, D.C., and has her degree in international relations from Brown University.