A 156,000-square-foot warehouse on Bethlehem's former Bethlehem Steel land, once home to the largest fully automated vertical farm in the country, is getting a new tenant: a specialty meats manufacturer planning a halal-dedicated production facility. MAYA Meat is moving into the building at 1025 Feather Way, the same address where Bowery Farms grew leafy greens, herbs, and strawberries before its operation collapsed.
According to WFMZ.com, reporter Amy Unger's report lays out the transition at the Lehigh Valley Industrial Park VII site, located near Interstate 78 and Route 412. MAYA's own website states the company is developing the facility as a halal-dedicated production environment, with no pork accepted or processed anywhere on site, per mayameat.com. The company lists a planned opening of August 2027 and says the plant is designed to support commercial production of processed meats, gyros, shawarma, and döner, with planned annual production capacity of up to 48 million pounds.
A Separate Lease Announcement Adds a Wrinkle
MAYA's site also says the company is welcoming early conversations with retailers, distributors, foodservice businesses, and brand owners interested in private-label manufacturing and co-packing, suggesting the Bethlehem plant could serve customers well beyond its own branded products. Separately, developer J.G. Petrucci announced that an undisclosed international food manufacturer had leased the same 156,000 square feet at 1025 Feather Way, a detail disclosed in a company press release rather than tied explicitly to MAYA by name. J.G. Petrucci, based in New Jersey, says it completed the original development and design-build work for the building, which it describes as having contained the largest fully automated vertical farm in the United States.
The property's industrial pedigree runs deep. The site sits on land formerly belonging to Bethlehem Steel, and county records cited by J.G. Petrucci show the New Jersey-based developer purchased the property from Lehigh Valley Industrial Park for $1.5 million in 2020. J.G. Petrucci still owns the Feather Way property today.
How Bowery Farms' Bethlehem Venture Unraveled
Bowery Farms, founded in 2015 and based in New York, opened its 156,000-square-foot Bethlehem building in May 2022, according to The Morning Call. The indoor farming company grew leafy greens, herbs, and strawberries there, selling its produce to grocery stores and retailers including Whole Foods and Walmart, and also ran indoor farms in Maryland and New Jersey. The Morning Call's report notes that Bowery Farms had apparently shut down operations at the Bethlehem site, with the Maryland and New Jersey farms closing alongside it.
A WARN Act notice tied to the closure affected 104 workers, the outlet reported. Bowery's production at the Bethlehem address ended roughly two years before WFMZ's report on MAYA's move, making MAYA the next tenant at the warehouse. The Morning Call previously described vertical farming broadly as the practice of growing plants in vertically stacked layers or inclined surfaces, a model that drew attention to the Bethlehem site when it first opened.
Not the First Meat Processor to Set Up in Bethlehem
MAYA's planned arrival would not be the Lehigh Valley's first specialty meat operation built with J.G. Petrucci's involvement. The developer also completed the development and design-build of a USDA-inspected food processing and distribution facility for Bethlehem Sausage Works, featuring multiple smokehouses, epoxy flooring, food-grade refrigerated kitchen and freezer rooms, and a mezzanine for extra storage.
With an August 2027 target about nine months away as of November 10, 2026, much about MAYA's buildout remains to be seen, including construction timelines and hiring plans that have not yet been detailed publicly. For now, the former vertical farm's shell on Feather Way is set for a second life, with a halal-dedicated production environment aimed at gyro, shawarma, and döner production on an industrial scale.
