It’s farm to condo!
Residents of a Prospect Heights tower can sow their own veggies and herbs in plots on an eighth floor terrace equipped with everything green thumbs need to harvest their next meal, including a fully powered sun.
“The sun exposure is nearly all day and so it’s just a great place to have this sort of amenity,” said Ashley Cotton, who is the executive vice president of external affairs at Forest City New York, the developer behind Pacific Park, formerly known as Atlantic Yards.
Residents of in the 18-story Vanderbilt Avenue and Dean Street building can sign up for individual plots measuring 3-by-10-feet spread out among six large metal planters for free. The building is described as having a “deep and fundamental connection to nature” on its website — a feature that will attract people who want to get down in the dirt and grow their own greens, according to Cotton.
“There are people who are interested in light and air and having this element in their day-to-day lives so we think this amenity fits quite nicely into that profile,” she said. “It’s sort of relaxing and inspiring. The daily grind of a city doesn’t give you much an opportunity to say, ‘Oh look! The eggplant is coming in.’ ”
Residents are responsible for taking care of their own plot, but each planter comes with its own irrigation system so the big city cultivators don’t have to worry about their vegetation wilting while they’re away.
And the sunny location means that locals can grow a tomatoes, basil, and many other plants that love basking in its rays, according to a gardening expert who said growers just must make sure to show their crops some extra love when the heat is on.
“They could grow vegetables, herbs, any types of shrubs, rose bushes would do well,” said Marty Lake, who owns the nearby Botanica Garden Center. “Most people who fail don’t water in heat waves, when you need to do a little more maintenance with full sun.”
Along with amateur gardeners, the owners of restaurant Olmsted, which is down the street, are using a large plot to grow hot peppers for their homemade alji dulce sauce, said Cotton.
Residents who have trouble getting started or just want some wisdom from the masters themselves can sign up for gardening lessons with the Olmsted team, although they will have to pay a yet-to-be determined price.
Scoring a pad in the Vanderbilt Avenue building isn’t cheap — condos range from $890,000 to $6.8 million. But city slicking farmers who dream of growing their own crops in the sky shouldn’t shrivel up yet, another Pacific Park building at 535 Carlton also offers terrace gardening and below-market-rate prices.
