Gotham Greens founders Viraj Puri and Eric Haley and community leaders in Pullman broke ground on what will be Chicago’s largest agricultural greenhouse. The 140,000-square-foot Gotham Greens greenhouse near 107th Street and Doty Avenue will create approximately 60 permanent and 70 construction jobs and strengthen Pullman’s ongoing renaissance. The new facility will produce local, premium quality vegetables and herbs year-round for retailers, restaurants and institutional foodservice customers. Using state-of-the art growing methods that include hydroponics, evaporative cooling systems and renewable energy resources, the $12.6 million complex is expected to produce approximately 30 times the yield of conventional agriculture per acre while using 10 percent of the water. The project will be Gotham Greens’ second greenhouse in Pullman. The company currently operates a 75,000-square-foot greenhouse on the roof of the nearby Method Products factory, which opened in 2015. The 6.2-acre project site was occupied until 2008 by a Ryerson Steel plant and later acquired by Pullman Park LLC. Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives plans to acquire and prepare the site for $3.68 million and subsequently sell the property to Gotham Greens, which will complete the greenhouse’s vertical construction. Approximately $3.4 million in Tax Increment Financing assistance for the site preparation work is pending City Council approval.