Ben Hertz

From Vision to Reality: Revisiting The Cornerstone Group's Rooftop Farm

Last spring, I wrote about my visit to Cornerstone Rooftop Farm in Richfield, Minnesota, a pilot project of The Cornerstone Group, a real-estate management and urban-planning group, among other things. At that point, they had plans, hypotheses, and growing structures, but not yet any produce.

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Finding Space in an Unlikely Place: Minnesota's First Rooftop Farm

These people don't look like farmers, I thought as I met some of the staff of The Cornerstone Group, a local real estate development company that manages both retail and domestic properties. Colleen Carey, Cornerstone's president, was dressed in gauzy white, while her colleagues wore suit jackets.

“We had a presentation this morning,” Colleen explained. “We don't normally dress like this.”

She quickly proved she and her staff were unfussy and practical. As they guided me along the building, Colleen picked up stray bits of trash and leaves as she went. We entered a utility room with a dauntingly steep metal staircase to the roof of Kensington Park building. Topside, we looked over Richfield's business district. The view wasn't great, but I hadn't come for that. What I wanted to see was the Cornerstone Rooftop Farm, the first of its kind in Minnesota.

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