Company with Rooftop Farm in Bethesda To Open Another, Bigger Farm at Pike & Rose

Company with Rooftop Farm in Bethesda To Open Another, Bigger Farm at Pike & Rose

Pike & Rose’s newest development isn’t a restaurant or a business. It’s a 17,000-square-foot farm that will provide produce to residents and nearby eateries.

The farm will be situated one story above the North Bethesda development, on top of the Old Georgetown Road Garage next to the Pallas at Pike & Rose apartments.

Up Top Acres, the local company behind the large garden, specializes in “rooftop farms.” In 2015, the company set up a 7,000-square-foot farm above Equinox in Bethesda Row. It operates four other farms in the region, including its first farm, which is on the roof of the restaurant Oyamel in D.C., and two near Nationals Park.

Co-founder Kathleen O’Keefe said the rooftop farm will sell its goods to local restaurants and have an open market nearby. People living in or near Pike & Rose can pay to become members and pick up a share of produce every week. The rest will be sold to other customers.

“Hopefully, produce will be traveling maybe five blocks from farm to consumer,” she said Wednesday.

O’Keefe said the farm will grow about 20,000 pounds of produce annually, including herbs, tomatoes, peppers, flowers and root vegetables like carrots, turnips and radishes. It also will have a few beehives.

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