BERLIN — North Country Growers LLC has finalized the purchase of 172 acres of city land on East Milan Road, where it plans to build a $58 million hydroponic greenhouse complex that would employ 80 people and annually produce 15 million salad units and eight million pounds of tomatoes.
A subsidiary of American Ag Energy of Boston, North Country Growers has been working since 2017 with the city and the Berlin Industrial Development and Park Authority to buy the land that would he home to two, 10-acre each greenhouses.
Pamela Laflamme, Berlin’s community development director, said Tuesday the $610,000 sale was finalized “before the end of the year” and was recorded with the Coos County Registrar of Deeds on Jan. 5.
Richard Rosen, the CEO of American Ag Energy, hailed the deal, as did Mike Caron, the chairman of the BIDPA.
“Every step in the right direction is a good step,” said Rosen, adding that the goal is to begin construction “as soon as possible,” but conceding that the weather as well as the coronavirus pandemic are delaying that from happening.
He said the greenhouses will produce greens and tomatoes in 2021 but that projected output will be at 100 percent in 2022. The greenhouses will be heated by waste heat and carbon dioxide from electricity production by generators using natural gas from a nearby Liberty Utilities pipeline.
Rosen, a seasonal resident of the Lakes Region, said he has commitments for everything the greenhouses can grow next year.
“This is a project we care very deeply about,” said Rosen, and the greens and tomatoes grown in the Berlin greenhouses will be “better than anything you’ve ever tasted in your life.”
Caron said the sale of the land to North Country Growers, some of which was a former municipal landfill, was a long time coming, adding that it represents a “fabulous” opportunity for the city.
As a Berlin native, the owner of Caron Building and Rental Center and also chairman of the Berlin Water Commission, Caron said he appreciates what North Country Growers is bringing directly and may bring on its coattails: businesses to support the greenhouses.
“It’s going to be a tremendous boost to the economy,” said Caron, both in the number of jobs created and as an incentive for other companies to come up to the city.
