Turn an empty office into a vertical farm

With office usage hovering around 50% of pre pandemic levels, many cities are struggling with a large amount of underutilized space. Why not use these tables and compartments specifically for growing food?

In an old paper company and warehouse building, machines are buzzing again. However, this warehouse is not a large amount of paper that is pressed and cut, but rather the location of the Zone 2 farm, which currently produces green vegetables, vanilla, and rhizome vegetables. There is even a weekly CSA that serves customers year-round, all of which is to bring locally grown food to Washington, D.C. It’s really local. When was the last time you picked strawberries and confidently said you knew the name of this farmer? “Jackie Potter asked.

Although the COVID-19 drove workers out of the office three years ago, many office buildings were still empty. According to data collected in 10 major cities, office usage rates at the end of January had just exceeded 50% of pre pandemic levels, and these numbers seemed to have stagnated a few months later. Nearly 20% of office space in various parts of the United States is empty, and some predictions suggest that by 2030, more than 300 million square feet of office space in the United States may be abandoned. The COVID-19 epidemic shows that people have the ability (in some cases, support) to work in a remote environment.

Many people work comfortably from home, and the many high-rise buildings in the city center make landlords feel frustrated, but they also make local restaurants and small businesses that rely on office workers to maintain their business feel frustrated. Therefore, many municipal authorities are attempting to fill these gaps again. In New York, city officials are transforming vacant office buildings into apartments in parts of Midtown. This idea is also being explored in many other regions, including Washington, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Although the cost of renovating existing buildings is lower than rebuilding, the cost of converting offices into residential spaces may be high, as the layout of most office spaces is different from residential buildings. But for these empty offices, there are other options, such as farms.