Of course, Centrum aren’t newcomers to building transformation. Via the same phone interview, McLean explained that the developer just finished work on the Hotel Lincoln, located right at Lincoln Park on the city’s North Side – a hotel property with a new rooftop bar. McLean feels that making use of rooftop space has become more popular as of late.

“A few years ago, it was very rare but more and more buildings are embracing it,” he says, joking that when the weather is great in Chicago, residents want to take advantage of fair conditions. On a more serious note, he believes that since the city changed its rooftop occupancy regulations, more tenants are venturing up – and the most recent move by BrightFarms only serves to illustrate this point further.

The rooftop at the Bradley Business Center will feature a hydroponic greenhouse farm, like those which the company builds on a commercial scale around the country. BrightFarms also partners with local farmer to manage the greenhouses and with supermarkets to sell its local produce year-round .