Cannabis Real Estate Summit

By Leland Radovanovic

Mannada Hosted the First Virtual Cannabis Real Estate Summit To Educate Entrepreneurs on Complex Rules and Regulations

Real estate is the lifeblood of the cannabis industry. Every legal cannabis license - from retail to cultivation to delivery - requires some form of real estate. Yet, leasing or purchasing a property is just the beginning of the process. With New York just legalizing adultuse cannabis across the Empire State, would-be entrepreneurs need to catch up fast.

To help educate on the complexities of real estate in the industry, Mannada, a minority woman-owned cannabis professional education event production company based in New York City led by the venerable Kristin Jordan (also founder of the Asian Cannabis Roundtable), hosted its first virtual Cannabis Real Estate Summit in early April.

“Real estate is the backbone of the cannabis industry - you can’t obtain a legal license without securing a real estate location for your application,” said Mannada Founder and real estate attorney Kristin Jordan. “We wanted attendees to walk away with a better understanding of the massive opportunity in cannabis real estate and a roadmap of how to navigate the retail side of this nascent industry.”

The conference, a first of its kind and a massive success, hosted more than 200 people. Among its incredible lineup of speakers included a keynote by Barrington Rutherford, SVP of Real Estate and Community Integration at Cresco Labs. He spoke about what he thinks about when looking for a new property. He hammered home the need to understand that each property exists within a larger community and understanding that community is an absolute must.

The summit also covered topics beyond the purchasing or leasing process, including; best practices and pitfalls, how to successfully negotiate real estate transactions in prime locations, site selection, licensing, zoning, and industry-specific lease issues for both landlords and tenants, and building and designing cannabis retail premises.

These are the devils in the details and are necessary to navigate the complex web of regulations. For example, California regulations state that cannabis businesses cannot be within 600 feet of schools. Yet, in Los Angeles, businesses must be 800 feet from schools. These variants can and will likely happen throughout New York and will play a massive role in shaping the market.

And while the industry feels cautiously optimistic about the SAFE Banking Act passing Congress, the reality is that there currently is little to no federal banking for the industry. However, Barrington was quick to point out that for small businesses, local banks and credit unions are more open to working with marijuana businesses.

One area of real estate that is less complex than purchasing or mortgaging a property for your business is real estate as an investment. Debra Borchardt, the founder of Green Market Report and writer from some of the most significant financial publications, including The Street, spoke about real estate investment trusts, REIT for short, are portfolios of real estate that investors can get into without the risk of owning property outright. Innovative Industrial Properties is one such REIT publicly traded on NASDAQ. Its portfolio provides the REIT with rent as an income source, which pays out to investors through dividends.

If all of this is sounding overwhelming, it’s because, on some level, it is. Mannada exists to help get the industry up to speed.

“Mannada hosts three major summits throughout the year, the Cannabis Real Estate Summit, Cannabis Media Summit, and Cannabis Law Summit,” commented Jordan. “This is the most exciting industry in the U.S. At each of these events, we provide a deep level of knowledge sharing beyond the 101. We also have a weekly newsletter that details cannabis events in the tri-state area called The Maze.”

To follow the summit series or events in New York, you can visit www.mannadaevents.com.