As Alaska and Oregon get closer to establishing their respective recreational marijuana industries, business-minded enthusiasts are hoping to secure storefronts and cultivation sites in the two states.
Alaska real estate brokers are already getting calls from people interested in setting up various types of businesses – even though lawmakers are still months from establishing rules and regulations on the industry, according to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
Business owners should lease rather than buy lest they run afoul of possible future zoning restrictions, he said. It has become common, for example, for states or local governments to prohibit marijuana sales within 1,000 feet of schools.
Property is also in demand in Oregon, where the number of cultivation sites has jumped as growers prepare for the rec industry. The Portland area, for instance, now has 64 large-scale MMJ grow sites, an almost-threefold increase since 2012, according to analysis by The Oregonian.
Growers are reportedly shelling out big bucks to lease buildings as they wait for the state to craft rules on the rec industry.