Globe: More Details on Whole Foods 'Green Roof'

A Monday Boston Globe report provides additional information this week about the rooftop garden that Whole Foods has been building at its MarketStreet Lynnfield site.

The store, set to open later in the summer, will reportedly use some 300 tons of soil to grow up to 11,000 pounds of produce on about 17,000 square feet (over a third of an acre), according to the information Whole Foods provided the Boston Globe.

The article also noted that the first rooftop grown produce should be available around the fall when the store first opens, and that it will cost about the same as other produce.

National Development, the company building MarketStreet Lynnfield, has also highlighted a couple of other environmental initiatives on the site in recent months.

Back during a February site tour of MarketStreet, Ted Tye told Lynnfield Patch that the large residential and commercial project off Route 128 has incorporated re-used stone and other materials from the former Colonial site to an extent seen in very few other projects – saving on gas, trucking and landfill costs as well.

Tye also spoke at a past Lynnfield selectmen's meeting about the LED lighting that will be used at MarketStreet Lynnfield’s parking areas. The lighting levels can be adjusted and the technology requires considerably less energy than more traditional lighting.  During the February site tour, Tye noted that along with the rooftop garden, the Lynnfield Whole Foods would also feature an open ceiling design with high windows aimed at maximizing natural light.

With that – Now that the MarketStreet Lynnfield project has largely taken shape off Walnut Street – what do you think? Are you looking forward to opening day? Do you plan to try produce that was grown on the roof? Feel free to weigh in on the comments boxes below!

For complete coverage of the MarketStreet Lynnfield project, visit our topic page here.