Image courtesy of GHV

By CRAIG WORKMAN

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The nonprofit Green House Venture is celebrating the construction start of a 9,500 square-foot Education Center that will provide innovative urban agriculture, bioscience, nutrition and dietetics learning opportunities for hundreds of 4^ththrough 8^thgrade students at four St. Louis schools – with plans to ultimately expand to more schools across the region.

The new Education Center is located across the street from GHV’s recently completed 3.7-acre outdoor food production area known as the Embankment Greenway along Interstate 44 and represents the final phase of GHV’s campus development.

The education structure will feature classrooms and laboratories, a greenhouse with aquaponic growing, rooftop rain gardening, vertical farming, multi-purpose gallery, office space for a full-time staff of three and advanced multi-media communication technology to enable educational outreach to schools both locally and regionally through online videos and live streaming of teaching sessions.

Construction of the new Education Center is expected to take approximately 12 months and be completed in time to welcome students for the Fall 2026 semester.

Hercules Construction Management is the owner’s representative and Bush Construction (formerly UIC) is the project’s design-build contractor.

Founded in 2015 and one of the first programs of its kind in the Midwest, GHV has been providing an innovative education program that educates, excites and equips an inclusive population of St. Louis 4^th through 6^th grade students to pursue a sustainable world through hands-on plant growth and urban agriculture learning experiences and experiments. When the new Education Center opens, GHV will expand its program to include 7^th and 8^th grade students.