Wellspring Harvest Breaks Ground For Greenhouse In Springfield
Wellspring Harvest Breaks Ground For Greenhouse In Springfield
Updated on June 8, 2017 at 4:33 PMPosted on June 8, 2017 at 4:20 PM
Gallery: Wellspring Cooperative Corporation to build commercial greenhouse in Springfield
BY JIM KINNEY | jkinney@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD -- By fall, between five and nine currently unemployed people will be working in a new hydroponic greenhouse growing salad greens for major local institutions like Baystate Medical Center, the public schools and Big Y supermarket.
That's the plan from Wellspring Harvest, which broke ground Thursday at the former Chapman Valve site at 121 Pinevale St. in Indian Orchard.
"This will be a great place to go grow food. This will be a great place to grow people," said greenhouse manager and grower Stephen Hilyard.
Wellspring Harvest plans to grow at Indian Orchard greenhouse in Springfield by fall
The 2-acre project continues the process of putting the old factory property back to productive use, said Kevin Kennedy, city chief development officer.
Once one of the country's largest manufacturers of valves and fire hydrants, Chapman Valve had nearly 3,500 employees in the 1940s. The company supplied valves to the Manhattan Project, which built the first atomic bomb, and later machined uranium rods into slugs for reactor fuel at Brookhaven National Laboratory. In 1949, Chapman may have also conducted rolling operations on uranium metal.
Chapman Valve closed in 1986 when there were fewer than 100 employees.
An April 2005 federal study revealed that "significant" radioactive contamination remained at the plant at Pineville and Goodwin streets in Indian Orchard through the early 1990s.
Wellspring buying part of Chapman site for greenhouse
Wellspring is raising $900,000 for the project and has an event planned for investors Sept. 7.
Parts of the factory site, once 54 acres in size, were contaminated with radioactive waste that has since been cleaned up. Another part of the campus on Goodwin Street is the site of a 12-acre, 2.3-megawatt solar facility constructed by Western Massachusetts Electric Co., featuring 8,200 solar panels.
"I think it's amazing that we have been able to redevelop this site with 'green' uses," Kennedy said.