Gotham Greens
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Founded | 2009 |
Founders | Viraj Puri, Eric Haley |
Headquarters | , |
Key people | Viraj Puri (CEO), Eric Haley (CFO), Jenn Frymark (Chief Greenhouse Officer) |
Products | Agribusiness |
Website | gothamgreens.com |
Gotham Greens is an American fresh food and urban agricultural company founded and headquartered in the Brooklyn borough of New York City,[1] that grows local produce year-round in greenhouses, with its lettuces, herbs, salad dressings and sauces sold under its brand name. The company owns and operates eight hydroponic greenhouse facilities in the United States.
History
Gotham Greens was founded by Viraj Puri and Eric Haley in 2009, aiming to bring fresh, local and pesticide-free vegetables, grown using ecologically sustainable methods, to urban areas.[2][3] Puri has a sustainable development and environmental engineering background, and Haley has a banking and finance background and focuses on the business side of the venture.[4] The company is headed by Puri, Haley and Jenn Frymark, who joined in 2009 to lead greenhouse operations.[4]
After three years of planning, in May 2011 Gotham Greens opened its first location, a 15,000 square-foot greenhouse in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, that was reported to be the US's first commercial urban rooftop greenhouse.[5][6] The company opened its second location in 2013, a 20,000 square-foot greenhouse, atop a Whole Foods Market in Gowanus, Brooklyn;[7][8] its third in 2015, a 75,000 square foot greenhouse in Chicago, Illinois, the largest rooftop greenhouse in the world;[9][10] and its fourth location, a 60,000 square-foot greenhouse on the rooftop of the former Ideal Toy Company factory in Jamaica, Queens, in late 2015.[11][12] At the end of 2019, Gotham Greens opened 100,000 square-foot greenhouse facilities in Chicago,[9] Edgemere, Maryland,[13] and Providence, Rhode Island.[14] In 2020, the company opened a 30,000 square-foot greenhouse in Aurora, Colorado.[15][16]
Its produce is packaged and sold in local stores under the Gotham Greens brand name, and also sold to local restaurants. In addition to its greens, the company also sells salad dressings and sauces.[16] They utilize technology allowing them to achieve yields with up to 30 times more crop per acre than conventional agriculture, and their greenhouses are powered by 100 percent renewable electricity,[17] and require 95 percent less water and 97 percent less land than traditional farming.[18][19]
Greenhouse locations
- New York City – three facilities (Greenpoint, Brooklyn; Gowanus, Brooklyn; Jamaica, Queens)
- Chicago, Illinois – two facilities (Pullman)
- Edgemere, Maryland
- Providence, Rhode Island
- Aurora, Colorado
See also
- Controlled-environment agriculture
- Urban agriculture
- Roof garden
- Building-integrated agriculture
- Hydroponics
References
- ^ "Gotham Greens Opens up Another Massive Greenhouse". Greenhouse Growers. February 29, 2020.
- ^ Donnelly, Tim (2011-12-06). "TEDxBrooklyn Takeaways: 5 Predictions You Need to Know". Inc.com. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
- ^ "URBAN FARMING COMPANY GOTHAM GREENS CLOSES $29 MILLION ROUND OF FUNDING". Agritecture. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
- ^ a b Drotleff, Laura (June 27, 2014). "Meet The Three Young Go-Getters Who Created Gotham Greens". Greenhouse Grower.
- ^ Zeveloff, Julie (July 14, 2011). "Tour The Hi-Tech Farm That's Growing 100 Tons Of Greens On The Roof Of A Brooklyn Warehouse". Business Insider.
- ^ Clendaniel, Morgan (June 28, 2011). "Gotham Greens: Brooklyn's New High-Tech Rooftop Farm". Fast Company.
- ^ "Whole Foods goes ultra-local with Gotham Greens greenhouse in Brooklyn". Green Biz. April 5, 2013.
- ^ Schwartz, Ariel (April 3, 2013). "This Super Local Brooklyn Whole Foods Will Have A 20,000-Square-Foot Rooftop Greenhouse". Fast Company.
- ^ a b Elejalde-Ruiz, Alexia (November 13, 2019). "'We see a lot of room for growth': Gotham Greens is making money farming lettuce on the South Side. Now it's adding a 2nd greenhouse in Pullman". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ Peters, Adele (January 4, 2016). "This Is The World's Largest Rooftop Greenhouse". Fast Company.
- ^ Kern-Jedrychowska, Ewa (February 3, 2016). "Massive Rooftop Greenhouse Opens on Jamaica Avenue". DNA Info.
- ^ Jewell, Nicole (February 26, 2016). "Gotham Greens opens 60,000-sq-ft rooftop farm atop former toy company in Hollis, Queens". Inhabitat.
- ^ Cohn, Meredith (December 10, 2019). "Old Sparrows Point steel mill sprouts new businesses, including a new kind of indoor farm". Baltimore Sun.
- ^ Ciampa, Gail (December 4, 2019). "Gotham Greens opens its massive Providence greenhouse on Thursday. Here's a look inside". Providence Journal.
- ^ Rubino, Joe (October 23, 2019). "A new building rising behind Stanley Marketplace in Aurora will be a commercial greenhouse". Denver Post.
- ^ a b Kennedy, Caroline (May 21, 2020). "Gotham Greens' Hydroponic Urban Greenhouse Brings Local, Sustainable Produce to Denver". 3030 Magazine.
- ^ Gould, Danielle (January 24, 2019). "Gotham Greens on Using Hydroponics to Preserve Biodiversity". Food Tech Connect.
- ^ Reiley, Laura (November 19, 2019). "Indoor farming looks like it could be the answer to feeding a hot and hungry planet. It's not that easy". Washington Post.
- ^ Goldschmidt, Bridget (November 14, 2019). "Gotham Greens Opens Largest Greenhouse". Progressive Grocer.