Financier Hantz wants to plant $30M into vacant lots

Detroit and businessman John Hantz wants to commit $30 million to his urban farm idea in Detroit, which would be the largest of its kind.Excerpt:By this time next year, he says, some of that land could be transformed, becoming the first phase of Hantz Farms L.L.C., an ambitious commercial farming operation that Hantz says can turn a profit.“We
have to move as a city from knowing why everything won’t work to
knowing why it will work,” he said. “At some point, we have to step
into the fire.” Hantz has been buying property on Detroit’s
east side, and plans to open shop with a 77-acre, noncontiguous farm
growing food, trees and energy products — provided a few key pieces
fall into place. “We’re down from a couple of hundred things that have to happen to a few things,” he said. Hantz
says he plans to commit $30 million over the next 10 years to bring the
farm to fruition, with the end goal of 5,000 acres, said Hantz Farms
Senior Vice President Matt Allen. Costs have averaged roughly $3,000 an
acre, Allen said.Read the entire article here.