East Phillips Indoor Urban Farm

In 2014, while the East Phillips Improvement Coalition (EPIC) was launching another effort to relocate two major polluters of their neighborhood, Bituminous Roadways and Smith Foundry, they discovered that the owners of the Roof Depot across the street, were going to sell their 7.6-acre site including the iconic 230,000 sq. ft. former Sears Warehouse. EPIC and the community realized that they and especially their children could not tolerate another polluting entity moving into the neighborhood. In an effort to prevent that and create something positive for the community, they came together and created the East Phillips Indoor Urban Farm project.

Goals of EPNI and the Indoor Urban Farm:

• Save, Repurpose, and Reuse the Sears Warehouse,

• Create Green, Living-wage Jobs for the community,

• Second chance job opportunities,

• Job Training,

• Organic, Aquaponic year-round food production,

• Affordable Family Housing at 30%AMI,

• Coffee Shop/World Café run by neighborhood youth,

• Community Kitchen,

• Cultural Markets,

• Bicycle shop on the Midtown Greenway,

• Economic and Environmental Justice for East Phillips,

• An affordable new home for many burned out local businesses,

• Safe, indoor, temporary homeless housing with supervision services, and

• No additional pollution.

Information from: East Phillips Improvement Coalition