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Gotham Greens
Company typePrivate
Founded2009
FoundersViraj Puri, Eric Haley
Headquarters,
Key people
Viraj Puri (CEO), Eric Haley (CFO), Jenn Frymark (Chief Greenhouse Officer)
ProductsAgribusiness
Websitegothamgreens.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 nine hydroponic greenhouse facilities in the United States.

CEO of the company is Viraj Puri.[2]

History[edit]

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.[3][4] 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.[5] The company is headed by Puri, Haley and Jenn Frymark, who joined in 2009 to lead greenhouse operations.[5]

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 first commercial urban rooftop greenhouse in the United States.[6][7] However, commercial greenhouses on rooftops have existed in New York City since at least since 1969, when Terrestris rooftop nursery opened on 60th Street in Manhattan.[8]

The company opened its second location in 2013, a 20,000 square-foot greenhouse, atop a Whole Foods Market in Gowanus, Brooklyn;[9][10] its third in 2015, a 75,000 square foot greenhouse in Chicago, Illinois, the largest rooftop greenhouse in the world;[11][12] 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.[13][14] At the end of 2019, Gotham Greens opened 100,000 square-foot greenhouse facilities in Chicago,[11] Edgemere, Maryland,[15] and Providence, Rhode Island.[16] In 2020, the company opened a 30,000 square-foot greenhouse in Aurora, Colorado.[17][18]

In 2020 Gotham Greens raised $87 million series D funding round led by Colorado VC Manna Tree with participation from Florida real estate and private equity investor The Silverman Group.[19] Company raised money in new equity and debt capital, bringing the fast-growing company's total financing to $130 million.[20][21]

In 2021 University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) and the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (UCD CAES) have entered into a partnership with Gotham Greens to advance research and innovation in the areas of indoor agriculture, advanced greenhouse technology and urban agriculture.[22]

Product[edit]

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.[18] By controlling the environment, Gotham Greens can grow up to 30 times more low-calorie crops per acre than field agriculture. Their greenhouses use renewable electricity,[23] fossil fuels for year-round heating, and require less water than a field operation using irrigation would.[24][25]

Greenhouse locations[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Gotham Greens Opens up Another Massive Greenhouse". Greenhouse Growers. February 29, 2020.
  2. ^ Eppich, Johnny (2021-06-22). "Gotham Greens CEO Discusses New Developments and Trends in Leafy Greens Market". Greenhouse Grower. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  3. ^ Donnelly, Tim (2011-12-06). "TEDxBrooklyn Takeaways: 5 Predictions You Need to Know". Inc.com. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
  4. ^ "URBAN FARMING COMPANY GOTHAM GREENS CLOSES $29 MILLION ROUND OF FUNDING". Agritecture. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  5. ^ a b Drotleff, Laura (June 27, 2014). "Meet The Three Young Go-Getters Who Created Gotham Greens". Greenhouse Grower.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ Clendaniel, Morgan (June 28, 2011). "Gotham Greens: Brooklyn's New High-Tech Rooftop Farm". Fast Company.
  8. ^ Lyon, Lilla (12 May 1969). "The City Garden". New York Magazine. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  9. ^ "Whole Foods goes ultra-local with Gotham Greens greenhouse in Brooklyn". Green Biz. April 5, 2013.
  10. ^ Schwartz, Ariel (April 3, 2013). "This Super Local Brooklyn Whole Foods Will Have A 20,000-Square-Foot Rooftop Greenhouse". Fast Company.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ Peters, Adele (January 4, 2016). "This Is The World's Largest Rooftop Greenhouse". Fast Company.
  13. ^ Kern-Jedrychowska, Ewa (February 3, 2016). "Massive Rooftop Greenhouse Opens on Jamaica Avenue". DNA Info. Archived from the original on August 11, 2020. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  14. ^ Jewell, Nicole (February 26, 2016). "Gotham Greens opens 60,000-sq-ft rooftop farm atop former toy company in Hollis, Queens". Inhabitat.
  15. ^ Cohn, Meredith (December 10, 2019). "Old Sparrows Point steel mill sprouts new businesses, including a new kind of indoor farm". Baltimore Sun.
  16. ^ Ciampa, Gail (December 4, 2019). "Gotham Greens opens its massive Providence greenhouse on Thursday. Here's a look inside". Providence Journal.
  17. ^ Rubino, Joe (October 23, 2019). "A new building rising behind Stanley Marketplace in Aurora will be a commercial greenhouse". Denver Post.
  18. ^ a b Kennedy, Caroline (May 21, 2020). "Gotham Greens' Hydroponic Urban Greenhouse Brings Local, Sustainable Produce to Denver". 3030 Magazine.
  19. ^ "Gotham Greens raises $87m Series D funding for expansion". AFN. 2020-12-09. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  20. ^ Greens, Gotham. "Gotham Greens Raises $87 Million To Grow Its Indoor Agriculture Footprint, Bringing More Fresh Foods To Shoppers Nationwide". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  21. ^ "New York-based indoor ag company Gotham Greens raises $87 million". TechCrunch. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  22. ^ Anonymous (2021-03-03). "Gotham Greens Accelerates Growth with West Coast Expansion". College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  23. ^ Gould, Danielle (January 24, 2019). "Gotham Greens on Using Hydroponics to Preserve Biodiversity". Food Tech Connect.
  24. ^ 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.
  25. ^ Goldschmidt, Bridget (November 14, 2019). "Gotham Greens Opens Largest Greenhouse". Progressive Grocer.
  26. ^ Yu, Douglas. "Gotham Greens Opens New Greenhouse In Colorado As Local Businesses Slowly Reopen After COVID-19 Pause". Forbes. Archived from the original on May 27, 2020. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  27. ^ Heater, Brian. "Gotham Greens opens a 10-acre farm/research facility in California". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 16, 2022.

External links[edit]

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