PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The owner of a local restaurant chain is working to revive the urban farm.

Cary Borish of Marathon Restuarants is working with Farm Director Patrick Dunn to turn a plot of land at 27th and Master streets into an urban farm.

“It’s called Marathon Farm and we have basically taken land given to us by the Department of Public Property,” Borish said. “It’s about 16,000 square feet, it’s a third of an acre, it’s located in North Philadelphia in Brewerytown and we are turning it into an urban farm.”

But creating a farm isn’t so easy.

“We’re in the process right now of getting the soil tested. There are going to be a lot of metals in the soil, it’s going to be unlikely that we’ll probably be able to use the existing soil, we’ll probably have to do raised beds, which we’re anticipating.”

Borish says half of the food yield is going to go towards food stands and affordable food for the local community. The other half will be purchased by Marathon at market prices — and he says anyone interested in getting involved or learning about urban farming should contact marathon restaurants.

Reported by Hadas Kuznits, KYW Newsradio