AppHarvest completes deal with Mastronardi for $127 million sale-leaseback of farm

AppHarvest, the Kentucky-based greenhouse company, announced on Dec. 27 that it has finalized the sale-leaseback of its Berea, Ky., indoor leafy greens farm for just over $127 million and has opened its 60-acre high-tech indoor farm in Richmond, Ky.

According to the announcement, AppHarvest has entered an agreement with “Mastronardi Berea LLC, a joint venture between Mastronardi Produce and COFRA Holding, for the sale-leaseback of its Berea high-tech indoor farm for leafy greens for approximately $127 million with an initial lease rate of 7.5% over 10 years, with four renewal terms of five years each.” Mastronardi is AppHarvest exclusive marketing and distribution partner.

Some of the proceeds of the sale-leaseback, the release says,  of the sale-leaseback will be used to repay the previously announced $30 million bridge loan from Mastronardi Produce to AppHarvest and the first two years of prepaid rent at the Berea facility.

“The AppHarvest team has worked relentlessly this year to get the four-farm network operational, and those efforts have paid off with the quadrupling of farms in our network and diversifying our crop set,” said AppHarvest Founder & CEO Jonathan Webb. “The team is now focused on operations to ramp up production and revenue from the four high-tech farms.”

At the Richmond farm, AppHarvest is producing Campari brand tomatoes with the first harvest scheduled for January. Half of the Richmond farm currently is planted, and the other half is expected to be planted in 2023.