Tall Lettuce Farm To Rise in Houston Industrial Building
July 31, 2020
Kalera, an Olrando, Fla., company, has selected a new industrial building in the northeast Houston submarket for what would be its largest hydroponic farm yet, producing nearly 5 million pounds of artisan lettuces a year as part of a strategy to grow food near where it is consumed in a high-tech, earth-friendly manner.
It will be the fourth facility for the company, which opened a large Orlando location this year after proving the concept with The HyCube, a modular vertical farm built to supply the Marriott Orlando World Center on-site in 2018.
At 83,436 square feet, the building, at 7159 Rankin Road in Humble, will be 2½ times the size of the newest Orlando farm, and about 12 percent larger than one going up in Atlanta. The vertical farms are part of a plan to scale the company across North America and globally.
“What we’re doing is bringing back what used to always be the normal, which is to eat where you are, and to eat produce that is not weeks old,” said Daniel Malechuk, CEO of Kalera.
Kalera wants to take a bite out of the lettuce market, which is concentrated on traditional farms in California and Arizona. Its cleanroom technology process eliminates both the need for pesticides and washing and processing the lettuces to prepare them for shipment up to 1,200 miles or more by truck.
The Kalera farms, which grow lettuces by stacking them in LED-lit warehouses, are designed to use 95 percent less water than traditional farms. It takes six weeks from seed to harvest, shaving about two weeks off the traditional timeline. The process also protects against pathogens such as E. coli.
With COVID-19, consumers have a heightened concern for where products come from and how many people have touched them, said Malechuk.
When it opens in late spring 2021, Kalera will work with local grocers and major food distribution companies to deliver produce to stores, restaurants, schools, hotels, hospitals, and cruise lines the same day harvested. The prices will be in line with traditional artisan lettuces, Malechuk said.
The facility, which will employ 55 to 70 people, will serve Houston as well as markets within a few hours away by truck. Lettuce harvested in the morning could be served at a restaurant in Dallas the same evening.
Kalera is the first tenant in Parc 59, a two-building development of Jackson-Shaw and Thackeray Partners off U.S. 59, just north of Beltway 8. It’s leasing the rear-load building with a clear height of 28 feet. A cross-dock building with 196,064 square feet and clear height of 32 feet is available for lease. The building is suited for warehousing, manufacturing, distribution, and assembly.
“The building’s prime location in Houston was the perfect fit for all of Kalera’s needs to serve its customers seamlessly and deliver high quality, fresh products to the Houston market and regionally,” Grant Pearson, vice president of development at Jackson-Shaw, said in an announcement.
Jason Dillee and Nathan Wynne of CBRE represented the landlord, while Mike Spears and Derek Riggleman of Lee & Associates represented Kalera in the 10-year lease. Terms were not disclosed.
The Parc 59 project team includes Cadence McShane as a general contractor and Powers Brown Architecture.
katherine.feser@chron.com
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PHOTOS:
1. Malechuk holds a head of lettuce at HyCube, Kalera’s vertical farm on-site at the Photo: Kalera
2. Kalera uses cleanroom technology and processes to eliminate the use of chemicals at its vertical farms. The Orlando-based company says its lettuces consume 95 percent less water compared to field farming. Photo: Kalera
3. Kalera, a vertical farming company, leased a new 83,436-square-foot building in Parc 59 at 7159 Rankin Road in Humble. Jackson-Shaw developed the two-building, 279,500-square-foot Parc 59 with equity partner Thackaray Partners . Photo: Jackson-Shaw
Katherine Feser
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Katherine Feser covers a variety of subjects for the Houston Chronicle Business section. She coordinates some of the paper's most popular special sections, including the Chronicle 100, Home Price Survey, and Top Workplaces. She compiles many of the staples of the section, including the daily markets page, People in Business, event listings and real estate transactions.