One of the largest indoor farms in the world announced it was ending its operations on the South Side and would lay off 166 workers after a plan to sell the company fell through at the last minute.
Ohio-based food producer 80 Acres Farms sent a letter to the Texas Workforce Commission on Aug. 3 where it said it planned to cease operations at its 3315 Global Way facility at Brooks and lay off all workers by Aug. 17.
The indoor, vertical farm sold produce and salads to local grocery stores.
“The company was actively engaged in negotiations regarding a potential acquisition that, if completed, was expected to provide the funding necessary to continue operations and avoid or postpone the closure,” wrote CEO and co-founder Mike Zelkind in a letter to the commission. “However, on the evening of August 2, 2026, the prospective acquirer unexpectedly withdrew from the transaction.”
Connie Gonzalez, chief strategy officer at the Brooks Development Authority, said her team is focused on the workers impacted by the closure.
“We are working with our workforce, economic development and community partners to help connect the 166 affected employees with employment opportunities and available resources as quickly as possible,” she said.
More than one-third of the workers at the facility were produce packers. Another 20% worked as machine operators or sanitation workers, according to a notice sent to the Texas Workforce Commission. The facilities used by 80 acres farms have machines and robots take on watering and sowing seeds, while humans perform other tasks alongside them.
Layoffs at the farm were scheduled to happen between Aug. 3 and Aug. 17.
Employers with 100 or more full-time employees are required to submit a notice to the state under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act of 1988. Those layoffs are listed online by the commission.
Brooks Development Authority owns the property. The development authority was created after the Brooks Air Force Base closed in 2011 and it has since built up a mixed-use community.
The property off Global Way was leased to the Decennial Group, an investment firm based in Chicago. Gonzalez said Brooks is working with the Decennial Group to find a new business to occupy the facility, which is valued at roughly $26 million, according to the Bexar County Appraisal District.
The Decennial Group is also trying to build data centers in Hammond and Akron in Northern Indiana.
Indoor farming company Soli Organic broke ground on the 140,000-square-foot facility in 2022 and began production in 2024. The facility was more efficient in its use of land and water, said Matt Ryan, Soli’s CEO at the time.
In 2024, Soli’s Brooks facility nurtured 200,000 thyme, parsley, cilantro and basil plants a week, packing and shipping it to store shelves across the country, including H-E-Bs in Texas.
A year ago, Virginia-based Soli Organic merged with 80 Acres Farms, another indoor farming company headquartered in Hamilton, Ohio. That effort was supposed to create $200 million in revenue in year one.
The company is now shutting down across the country.
“After an exhaustive effort to find a way forward, 80 Acres Farms is winding down operations,” said Zelkind in an email statement.
