A greenhouse in the town of Massena has received a preliminary approval from the St. Lawrence County Planning Board but with a handful of conditions. The 453,000-plus-square-foot facility will cover roughly 10 acres and is expected to supply fresh produce to the northeast with crops like lettuce.
Confluent Energies Inc. has proposed the project, which will be located in an industrial zone as part of a lease from Arconic. County officials say the company is leasing 79 acres total from Arconic, with the project expected to be completed in two phases.
Confluent is expected to employ around 42 employees for phase one and around 141 employees for all phases, though the planning board only reviewed phase 1 recently.
Further review will be required when Confluent intends to begin on phase two, officials said. As part of the agreement with Arconic, Confluent is expected to lease space for accounting, customer service and sales, with a new building to be constructed. That building will be the greenhouse, which Confluent said is not required to go through code review since it is considered an agricultural building.
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