Second chances Farm reaches deal for Philadelphia expansion

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Ajit Mathew George and Michael Bailkin announce plans to open Second Chances Farm Philadelphia in 2021. Photo from Leonard Hook
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Second Chances Farm and founder Ajit Mathew George has announced an agreement with Philadelphia developer Michael Bailkin for a second location.

Second Chances operates a vertical farm in Wilmington that employs ex-offenders.

Bailkin, who will invest the capital needed to open a 20,000 to 30,000  square foot  farm, said that the location will have enough space to eventually expand to 100,000-plus square feet.

The farm will be part of the North Station redevelopment  that includes several million square feet of builidngs  and land near the Temple University campus. Bailkin heads the  Arete Group.

Second Chances Farm, which will be an equity partner, will manage and staff Second Chances Farm Philadelphia.

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The new farm is slated to open in late 2021. Bailkin said that he intends to use Philadelphia as a headquarters site while opening satellite farms in “older industrial cities” throughout Pennsylvania.

Bailkin has been interested in indoor vertical farming for a long time, and along with his wife, Billie, and son, Cole, were looking at a whole range of opportunities.

“And then we met Ajit about a year ago, who is active in Opportunity Zones,” he says, “and we became very intrigued by the technical approach that he had, setting up a vertical farm, and doing that in a way that was going to make a major social impact by bringing in returned citizens and providing a job base and other opportunities for them. It was the combination of those two things that made us focus on doing something with our budget and over the next year or so.”

Michael and Second Chances Farm agreed to do a large project in Philadelphia, essentially as the headquarters, at least the regional , possibly national, headquarters for expansion.

Plans call for opening  a series of smaller units, of 15,000  to 20,000 sq. ft in Opportunity Zones in some of the older industrial cities in Pennsylvania in like Scranton, Coatesville, and Norristown, while also doing economic development in those cities. The most important consideration will be on creating opportunities for returning citizens.

The second goal of the partnership is to provide healthy food for areas that are food deserts. The third is economic development.

“Second Chances Farm will be the anchor and catalyst for other economic development activities in each of these opportunities zones,” Bailkin says.

The expansion agreement came in September and took place in the presence of U.S. Attorney General William Barr, HUD Secretary Ben Carson and other federal officials. The delegation was in Wilmington to tour the company’s operations and talk about the role of opportunity zones in aiding disadvantaged areas.

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