Pulaski Town Council updated on Vegg. Inc and Fire Dept.

Jefferson Elementary School was built in the 1920’s and served the area’s school children until it closed in 1993. Vegg Inc. acquired the building and plans to transform it into an indoor “vertical farm” using state-of-the-art carbon capture technology.

By WILLIAM PAINE

Patriot Publishing

Tuesday’s meeting of the Pulaski Town Council began with a public hearing from representatives of Vegg Inc., which maintains its headquarters in the old Jefferson Elementary school building. Fred Jeter, Chief Operating Officer of Vegg. Inc., gave an overview of the company’s progress with the aim of garnering support from council for a Community Development Block Grant worth upwards of $100,000.

As Jeter explained, Vegg Inc. is planning to install a “vertical farm” in the auditorium of the old school and this will serve as the main growing area in the building. Former classrooms on the east side of the auditorium will be used by individual “farmer tenants.” Two classrooms in the building are slated for workforce development programs that Vegg Inc. is creating with help from Virginia Tech and Virginia Western Community College.

The west wing of the building along Jefferson Avenue is partially collapsed but according to Jeter, will eventually become the new home of MOVA Technologies, which is a sister company of Vegg. At least two rooms at the Jefferson School will be used as labs under the direction of Alexander Yurista, Director of Research and Development at Vegg.

In April 2024, Yurista and Vegg Inc.’s Chief Development Officer Luke Allison unveiled a carbon capture device that extracted carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and repurposed the gas to accelerate the growth of lettuce. This same concept is set to be applied on a large scale to Vegg Inc.’s growing operations at the Jefferson School. According to Jeter, the vertical farming technique also uses less water and less energy than standard farming practices, as parts of the operation will be solar powered.

Vegg Inc.’s immediate task is raising money, with the aim of raising $600,000 from private investors. Jeter will also be applying for more than $3 million in grants over the next year and a half.

Jeter went on to say that Vegg Inc. is currently exploring distribution channels for when these vegetables will be mass produced sometime in late 2026.

The Planning Grant that Vegg Inc. is applying for will be used for professional fees for architects and the Department of Resources. When completed, Vegg Inc. at the Jefferson School will employ 10 to 15 people and Jeter hopes to expand the operation to other defunct schools in similar sized towns.

The grant requires no matching funds from the Town, which will only act as a conduit for the HUD grant. Council will likely vote to approve the grant application at their next meeting.

Pulaski Fire Chief Jeff Conner updated the council on the fire department.

“In 2024, the fire department ran 701 calls, which is about 500 more calls than any other fire department in this county,” said Conner. “We had 57 fires in 2024 with 18 of them being structure fires. We gained 10 new volunteers last year with five of those becoming certified fire fighters.”

Conner went on to say that the floor at the Pulaski fire station was recently sandblasted and then epoxied and that a new fire engine had been acquired and should be ready to serve as the station’s front-line fire engine by this summer.

Retired pastor Terrie Sternberg spoke to council about volunteering at the City of Refuge, which housed several individuals during the recent cold weather stint. Councilman Steve Erikson and his wife also volunteered their time at the City of Refuge to assist in the effort.

Sternberg also mentioned an apartment building on 5^th Street that caught fire at least three years ago and has remained vacant ever since. Sternberg asked how long this building would be allowed to remain in this state of disrepair.

Town Manager Todd Day promised to look into the matter, adding that there are currently 16 condemned structures in town and that there would likely be more condemnations in the near future.

The Streetscape project on West Main Street between Washington and Jefferson Avenues officially commenced this week.  Work on the Streetscape project is scheduled for completion sometime in August.

Lastly, the council voted to appoint former councilman Joseph Goodman to the Calfee Community and Cultural Center board of directors and voted to reappoint several others to agencies controlled by the town.