WESTBROOK, Maine — Vertical Harvest is starting to take shape in Westbrook.
Massive steel beams and glass windows have gone up on the landmark construction project in the city’s downtown.
The building will serve as a greenhouse, growing an expected 2,000,000 pounds of produce each year, distributed to grocery stores and restaurants within 150 miles of the facility.
CEO Nona Yehia, an architect by training, co-founded the company and, in 2016, began growing produce from her first urban farm in Jackson, Wyoming.
Yehia toured the Westbrook facility on Tuesday for the last time before the hydroponic infrastructure filled the three-story structure that will be the height of a traditional six-story building.
Yehia knew construction had been noisy and closed side streets off and on since ground broke in mid-2022, but she persisted in her hopes the striking architecture — and the fresh plants inside — will be a centerpiece of the city and the region for decades to come.
"We’ll be able to deliver these plants from farm to fork in 24 hours to the local community," she remarked. "And, it really is amazing. Once you start eating that locally, you can never go back."
Chris Simmons is the project executive for Wright-Ryan Construction. His team has handled some of the largest projects in the state, but this is one of a kind.
"I’ve done a lot of hospitals. I’ve done a lot of labs. I’ve done industrial and manufacturing," Simmons said. "This is, kind of, a hybrid of a lot of it. And I really can’t compare it to anything exactly, because it even has some food service components."
The expected opening date has been pushed back to sometime in the first half of 2024. There will be a welcome center on the first floor, where locals can come in and try the food for themselves.