Chicago Farm Zero Turns Downtown Office Space into Indoor Growing Sites
Farm Zero operates an indoor growing site in central Chicago and described plans to expand into additional underused office space.
An Axios Chicago report published on August 10, 2026 profiled Farm Zero, a company adapting vacant downtown office space for hydroponic food production. Its first site near City Hall began operating in late 2024, supplying leafy greens, herbs, edible flowers and microgreens to local customers.
The operator described a second planned site in the basement of 125 South Wacker Drive, with roughly 10,000 square feet of growing area and associated retail and hospitality uses. That larger facility was a project under development when Axios reported the story; it should not be described as already operating.
The company’s model is notable for adapting existing buildings rather than constructing entirely new farm warehouses. Reused space may offer some infrastructure advantages, but the economics still depend on building services, code requirements, energy consumption, distribution and the value of the crops grown.
Original source: Axios Chicago, 2026-08-10. https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2026/08/10/downtown-vertical-farming-venture-takes-root