Bags of fresh kale and tender microgreens — distributed last week at an open house of the Grow Erie facility in Savocchio Park — are a reminder of what the new $5 million facility was built to do.
But supporters of the project say the crops grown there and the revenue they will produce only hints at its value. The 17,000-square-foot facility at 1811 Paragon Drive was built in the middle of a former brownfield in one of Erie's poorest neighborhoods.
Developed by the Erie County Redevelopment Authority, the newly opened complex is owned by the Minority Community Investment Coalition, formed in 2016 by the Booker T. Washington Center, Martin Luther King Jr. Center and Urban Erie Community Development Corp.
Scientific support and design work for the facility come from a partnership with Integrated Agriculture Systems, known as INTAG. The facility, which already has produced its first crops, is expected to benefit the community by providing jobs to neighborhood residents, returning money to MCIC and by supporting the construction and operation of a community garden, where residents can grow their own food.
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