The largest vertical farming company in the Greater Cincinnati area — 80 Acres — plans to expand its growing operation at its lone Northern Kentucky facility.
Hamilton, Ohio-based 80 Acres plans to add another “grow zone” to its over 200,000-square-foot facility at 7455 Empire Dr. in unincorporated Boone County. Currently, the facility features two grow zones where the company utilizes hydroponics to farm greens, basil, microgreens and other produce.
Now, the Boone County Fiscal Court has signaled its intention to financially support the 80 Acres expansion project.
On Tuesday night, the court passed a resolution signaling the legislative body’s intention to issue industrial revenue bonds to expand the 80 Acres vertical farming facility. The bonds will pay various project costs, including installation, equipment, and construction.
“The IRB will help with a plant expansion which we’re very excited to see,” Boone County Administrator Matthew Webster said during the meeting.
The court has not officially issued any IRBs yet, but rather, it passed a bond inducement resolution that cemented the county’s intention to issue the bonds at a later date and outlined the agreement’s parameters and expectations. The bond inducement resolution capped the maximum amount for the bond issuance at $140 million.
Jim Parsons, an attorney with Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL, served as 80 Acres bond counsel on the project. Parsons said the resolution was the first step in the bond issuance process.
“Assuming the fiscal court approved the resolution tonight, then that’s just the first step. That’s just an intent to issue the bonds,” Parsons said. “After that, we will — once the company is ready to move forward working with this lender and other entities — we’ll come back.”
The next step is for the fiscal court to begin assembling an ordinance that would issue an actual bond amounting to 80 Acres.
“This step tonight on the incentives is to demonstrate to the company that we want to be a great partner and Boone County does and we invite more of it,” Judge/Executive Gary Moore said.
80 Acres purchased the 22-acre plot in Boone County for $6.73 million, according to county property records. Before that, The Hennegen Company operated a printing facility on the property that ultimately closed in 2020.
“We really liked this project, and we really liked that it’s expanding here in Boone County and making itself more established in the county,” Webster said. This was an industrial area. This is rehabilitating a vacant property. We liked it that it’s not taking new real estate. It’s engaged in a high-tech agricultural business, which we think is a really, really good enterprise to have here in Boone County.”
The post Boone County signals intent to support expansion of 80 Acres vertical farming facility appeared first on LINK nky.
