Fwd: Newark, NJ: Whole Foods & Aeroponic Farm

[Tobias Fox]

N.J. approves $40 million in tax breaks for Newark project that will house Whole Foods

The downtown (Whole Foods) project wasn’t the only tax break for a Newark development the EDA approved today. The board also voted to award about $8.7 million in tax breaks to develop an aeroponic farm run by the startup AeroFarms at the site of the former Ballentine Brewery in the city’s Ironbound District.

The indoor farm — in which plants are grown with a nutrient-rich mist instead of soil and under LED lights instead of the sun — plans to grow 2 million pounds per year of leafy greens “in an environmentally controlled, safe and sanitary facility,” according to developer RBH Group.

“It will be the largest indoor aeroponic farm in the world, providing healthy foods to the local community as well as to other markets.

A total of $2.2 million of the tax credits will go to RBH Group, while $6.5 million will go to Aerofarms.
The project is expected to create 69 new full-time jobs with a median salary of $53,572.