{"id":3458,"date":"2026-06-09T23:37:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T23:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=3458"},"modified":"2026-06-09T23:37:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T23:37:42","slug":"the-perfect-spot-for-a-farm-vacant-office-buildings-in-downtown-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=3458","title":{"rendered":"The perfect spot for a farm? Vacant office buildings in downtown Chicago."},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine walking into one of the towering buildings in the Chicago Loop.<\/p>\n

You ride the elevator up a dozen floors. When the doors open, a faint earthy smell greets you. Stepping off the elevator, instead of rows of cubicles, you find racks of vegetables growing under LED lights in the office.<\/p>

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That\u2019s the vision Russell Steinberg has for downtown Chicago office spaces.<\/p>\n

Steinberg is the founder of Farm Zero, one of a few vertical farming companies around Chicago. Nearly a decade ago, vertical farming became part of an agricultural technology craze, introducing a new way of growing crops indoors using stacked trays set up under artificial lighting, hydroponics and tightly controlled environments.<\/p>\n

But since then, the industry has seen mixed success. A handful of companies have shuttered because of unsustainable business models amid high energy and infrastructure costs, urban agriculture experts say.<\/p>\n

Despite that, Steinberg believes Farm Zero has one major advantage: the location of his farm.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to produce healthy food inside the center of the city,\u201d said Steinberg, who grew up in Riverwoods in Lake County.<\/p>\n

Most vertical farms around Chicago have historically operated in large warehouses away from downtown, according to Kevin Erickson, an urban agriculture instructor at Loyola University Chicago. Farm Zero\u2019s facility is on the 18th floor of an office tower at 30 N. LaSalle St.<\/p>

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\u201cMy impression is that they are one of the first, if not the first, downtown Loop-based operations distributing mostly within the downtown Chicago area,\u201d Erickson said.<\/p>\n

Since construction finished in 2024, the farm\u2019s central location has allowed it to partner with several companies headquartered in the Loop, including caterers, healthcare partners and restaurants, according to Steinberg.<\/p>\n

One of Farm Zero\u2019s biggest customers has been Blue Plate, a large-scale Chicago caterer. Charles Haracz, the executive chef at Blue Plate, said the company buys between 30 and 60 pounds of produce every week, including microgreens, lettuces and pea shoots.<\/p>\n

Some of the workplaces he has served have been just streets away from Farm Zero.<\/p>

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\u201cWe\u2019re really looking for local, clean ingredients, fresh food. \u2026 I think we have an opportunity at Blue Plate to change how people eat and think about food,\u201d Haracz said.<\/p>\n

Empty office spaces<\/h4>\n

Steinberg\u2019s idea for Farm Zero first emerged during the pandemic, when downtown office buildings in Chicago began to empty out.<\/p>\n

Data from the real estate firm CBRE showed downtown office vacancy was 13.8% at the start of the pandemic but jumped to 21.4% by the end of 2022.<\/p>\n

Up to that point, Steinberg said he had never worked in farming. He graduated from Purdue University studying finance and spent most of his career in the insurance advisory business.<\/p>\n

He remembers first exploring the idea of vertical farms after a friend complained about a bell pepper from a grocery store that was rotten and had worms in it. He said that conversation led him to start studying different food systems, like Singapore\u2019s Green Plan 30 by 30, which aimed to grow 30% of its food locally by 2030 through exploring more technological farming solutions. The government has since revised those targets to focus on increasing local production of fibers and proteins by 2035.<\/p>\n

The 45-year-old said he initially considered building a small greenhouse in Lakeshore East, a Loop development where he lives with his wife and two children.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aThere was obviously a need for some high-quality, healthy vegetables inside the city, and I thought it would be a good idea and a nice thing for Lakeshore East to have a food production system, even on a small scale,\u201d Steinberg said.<\/p>\n

Steinberg, who has played in Chicago\u2019s Downtown Real Estate Softball League since 2003, said he also floated the idea with some of his teammates. One of them was his longtime friend and real estate developer Lee Golub.<\/p>\n

\u201cCOVID hit, all the offices closed. \u2026 What\u2019s going to happen with all this obsolete office space?\u201d Golub recalled Steinberg asking. \u201cThe easiest part of this whole equation is that there\u2019s office space everywhere. There\u2019s a lot of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even after the pandemic, many older office spaces struggled to attract tenants back, Golub said. The pair then saw an opportunity: These indoor spaces already had the infrastructure needed for indoor farming, including water, electricity and HVAC systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be right in the heart of the city, because every building has that,\u201d Golub said.<\/p>\n

With the start of Farm Zero, Steinberg said he saw a window to deliver fresh produce around downtown. He started courting investors and speaking with urban agriculture experts around the world, including those in the Netherlands, one of Europe\u2019s leading countries in vertical farming.<\/p>\n

Indoor and local growing<\/h4>\n

In June 2024, Farm Zero moved into its first location on LaSalle. After receiving a special-use permit from Chicago\u2019s Department of Planning and Development, the company built a 1,000-square-foot farm.<\/p>\n

The staff currently grows four main types of plants: microgreens, leafy greens, herbs and edible flowers. The farm is organized almost like a production line, with five people overseeing operations.<\/p>\n

After the seeds are germinated, the plants are brought into a room designed to simulate ideal growing conditions, complete with elaborate LED lighting, water and irrigation management systems.<\/p>

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\u201cThe environment is so stable that when we build our controlled environment, it creates what is effectively a panic room and a spa for the plants,\u201d Steinberg said.<\/p>\n

After a few weeks, the plants are brought into a preparation area, where they are harvested, washed and packaged, Steinberg said.<\/p>\n

Because most of the produce is highly perishable, the team acts quickly. Typically, the products are delivered within 48 hours to Farm Zero\u2019s partner restaurants, companies or healthcare programs across downtown Chicago, Steinberg said.<\/p>\n

The company sells food to the University of Chicago Medicine and University of Illinois College of Medicine for their healthcare programs, Steinberg said. It provides workplace dining services for organizations such as Jump Trading, Tempus AI and Uber, as well as restaurants like Bazaar Meat and NoMI.<\/p>\n

Farm Zero also donates food to the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences. As part of the partnership, roughly 30 to 40 students participate in tours, informational sessions and hands-on activities at the farm each year, according to William Hook, the school\u2019s principal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids come back really optimistic and hopeful,\u201d Hook said. \u201cThe concept of having production right in the backyard of consumers is just really impressive, especially when you think about eliminating that carbon footprint.\u201d<\/p>\n

Compared with Farm Zero, Haracz, the Blue Plate chef, said most of the produce he sees in grocery stores around town is sourced from out of state. Many of the vegetables are grown in California, Canada, Mexico or areas of South America, some of the U.S.\u2019 main import partners. But he said he would much rather use fresher ingredients like those from Farm Zero, which he can receive hours after they\u2019ve been harvested.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really don\u2019t have a lot of opportunities in Chicago or the Midwest. I have to buy from California because there aren\u2019t many other options,\u201d Haracz said. \u201cThe future is growing more food indoors and locally, I think that\u2019s a huge opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vegetables are grown on only 0.2% of Illinois farmland, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, based on crop acreage recorded in Illinois\u2019 2022 Census of Agriculture.<\/p>\n

Because of the nature of vertical farming, Farm Zero can also produce crops year-round, which experts say could help meet Chicago\u2019s demand for fresh food.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere aren\u2019t many growers in the Midwest that can satisfy those orders, especially during the winter,\u201d said Erickson, the Loyola agriculture instructor. \u201cThat creates a major opportunity for year-round production because most food production still happens during only three seasons of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n