Multistate cannabis operator Columbia Care is spending $42.5 million in cash and stock to acquire a 34-acre cultivation site in its home state of New York.
The new location on eastern Long Island includes 740,000 square feet of operational greenhouse space that will be acquired in the second phase of the transaction later this year as well as “200,000 square feet of incremental grow capacity,” Columbia Care noted in a news release.
“The property’s infrastructure is fully developed for industrial scale and throughput and is currently used for growing ornamental flowers,” according to the release.
“Additionally, the existing owners have previously planted and successfully harvested industrial hemp on-site.”
The company expects its first harvest from the facility in the fourth quarter of 2021, regulatory approvals permitting.
Columbia Care said the new location would supplement its existing medical marijuana facility in Rochester, New York.
“The new site also allows the company to diversify its operations and open opportunities to create potential social equity business partnerships; a dedicated, federally-licensed global medical cannabis manufacturing and research hub in Rochester; and support the company’s entrance into the state’s adult-use program.”
In a statement, Columbia Care CEO Nicholas Vita characterized the acquisition as part of a plan “to deliver on our mission to New Yorkers through future legal cannabis programs.”
New York lawmakers laid the groundwork in late March for a legal recreational marijuana market, and sales could begin within a year.
The $42.5 million price tag for Columbia Care’s acquisition includes $15 million in cash and $27.5 million in stock.
Columbia Care said $30 million has already been paid, with the remaining $12.5 million to be paid in August after the second part of the acquisition is complete.
Shares of Columbia Care trade as CCHW on the Canadian Securities Exchange and the NEO Exchange and as CCHWF on the U.S. over-the-counter markets.
