Up to Pasture: local artist has vision to turn Landmark into vertical farm

Turning the abandoned and blighted Landmark Hotel into a vertical urban garden may sound like a fanciful, farfetched idea, but at least local artist Russell Richards has an idea. The same can't be said for the City or the hotel's various owners, who have offered only empty promises.

"I suspect the Landmark is never going to be completed," says Richards, who has informally presented his idea to City Council, and is scheduled to give a TEDx presentation on the idea. "The longer it sits exposed, the more it deteriorates and devalues. But that's what's happening, for whatever reason, so I personally believe the thing won't go forward."

Earlier this year, current owner John Dewberry "swore" to one city official that he would begin the project before the end of the summer, but as anyone can see, that isn't happening.

"I have admittedly gotten a lot of mileage out of the fact that everyone, everyone hates that hotel," he says.

Richards says there's a trend now among architects and engineers to d…