BUDDING OPPORTUNITY With marijuana legal, entrepreneurs plant roots

Budding opportunity

With marijuana legal, entrepreneurs plant roots in greater Niles region

Story by Beau Brockett Jr. Photos by Emily Sobecki

On a chilly morning in 2019, George Lynch sat on a camping chair in the bones of an auto care center.

Behind him were wooden beams which would become the foundation for future rooms. In 2020, it housed a compliance office, a secure transport station and a display case of marijuana paraphernalia. A remnant vehicle lift station became a basement stairway leading to more marijuana products.

On the other side of town sits another former business, Simplicity Pattern Company, in a defunct industrial neighborhood. Soon, Lynch would stand inside the building, overseeing not textile equipment but marijuana plants.

Lynch is the co-owner of Green Stem, LLC, a medical marijuana growing, processing and provisioning business.

The places his business inhabits are the remains of Niles’ old industry. Green Stem, Lynch said, is in the business sector is the herald of the new. That is, as long as the budding industry can adjust to plant growth concerns and unwavering opinions on the drug.

Investments into burgeoning future

In 2008, Michigan became the 11th state to legalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. In 2018, it became the eighth state to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older without needing a doctor’s approval.

Niles was one of the first municipalities in Michigan to embrace adult-use, or recreational, marijuana, opting in to allow related businesses in October 2019. The decision came as medical marijuana businesses were making steps to open in town, many hoping to eventually take advantage of the city’s new laws.

Some city council members shared their excitement marijuana businesses provided Niles during numerous council meetings. They cited more tax revenue, more local employment and economic development on formerly defunct industrial space as perks.

“I believe we have more to benefit by opting in and making it more commercially available, more affordable and hopefully discouraging the home growers, and that material, which I think would be more likely to get out on the street in the black market,” said councilmember John DiCostanzo said the night he cast his vote.

“If they really want it, they’re going to get it, legal or illegal,” councilmember Charlie McAfee said about adult-use users. “I would feel better to have it legally… rather than the back doorway.”

On Jan. 23, The ReLeaf Center became the first Niles business to grow, process and sell marijuana after months of licensure approval, plan approval and building renovations.

Lynch, a former Pandora Music executive, said he has invested millions of

dollars and many months in his own project to eventually grow, process, provision and transport marijuana with his wife, Denise, an interior designer, and his children.

They have all relocated to Niles, bringing other employees from other states with them. They are hoping to employ many locals into what Lynch said will be well-paying jobs, too.

The Lynches said they spent hours poring over the viability of their venture, the specifics of marijuana laws locally and statewide, and the municipalities most willing to listen to a marijuana entrepreneur’s proposition. On Denie’s work desk, where her self-designed layout of Green Stem is sprawled, sits an open code compliance book lit up by highlighter lines.

Lynch said Niles, with its helpful city staff, ideal industrial space and proximity to major Midwest cities, could be a hub of the Michigan marijuana industry. Green Stem could be at its core.

That is if all goes according to plan.

“We’re very anxious to get this thing going and get up and running because we think we got a lot to offer,” he said, hands in his Pandora varsity jacket pockets.

Producing the best product

Despite tough business realities to work through — product levels, banking, inclusivity — Lynch and Schneider both said the state and city has done a great job at regulating marijuana businesses to ensure safety, quality and care.

Lynch said Green Stem prides itself on its level of safety and security. At Niles City Council meetings, the Lynches often spoke about the dangers of chemicals

from self-growers, unregulated business and gas station vape products.

A 15-minute drive northwest from Green Stem is another medical marijuana company that values safety and security: Zen Leaf.

The Buchanan medical marijuana provisioner opened its doors in May 2019 at 259 W. Front St., the first in the area to do so. Like Green Stem, Zen Leaf found an accommodating community and a great opportunity in a southwest Michigan city, said marketing and public relations employee David Spreckman.

The business values safety and security because Zen Leaf runs as a branch of healthcare, Spreckman said. Its employees work as collaborative consultants to ensure their patients receive the best-suited product for their ailments.

“We don’t push products,” he said. “We try to push solutions to people’s problems.”

CHAMBER MEMBERS

Retail Best Syrups

(269) 262-0635 211 N 9th Street Niles, MI 49120

Camden Appliance

(269) 683-1500 3108 S 11th Street Niles, MI 49120

Casperson Books

(269) 687-7163 302 Broadway Niles, MI 49120

Comcast Business/ xfinity Retail

(847) 504-7135 7115 Heritage Square Drive Granger, IN 46530

Crown Trophy

(574) 255-2285 13576 McKinley Highway Mishawaka, IN 46545

East Main Gardens Florist and Greenhouse

(269) 683-8000 1521 E Main Street Niles, MI 49120

Flags International

(574) 674-5125 10845 McKinley Highway Osceola, IN 46561

Flo N Grow

(269) 683-1877 214 N 2nd Street Niles, MI 49120

Goodwill Industries of Michiana

(269) 684-5452 918 Silverbrook Avenue Niles, MI 49120

Lowe’s

(269) 591-3000 2055 S 11th Street Niles, MI 49120

Lush Lighting

(269) 262-4645 1964 S 11th Street Niles, MI 49120

Main Street Antique Mall

(269) 684-9393 109 E Main Street Niles, MI 49120

Martin’s Super Markets

(269) 684-2722 720 S 11th Street Niles, MI 49120

Niles Wellcare Pharmacy

(269) 262-4343 70 E Main Street Niles, MI 49120

Oh MY

(269) 262-4813 307 E Main St Niles, MI 49120

Picker’s Paradise Antique Mall

(269) 262-4831 2809 S 11th Street Niles, MI 49120

RadioShack

(269) 684-7368 722 S 11th Street Niles, MI 49120

Sam’s Club

(574) 243-8203 726 Indian Ridge Boulevard Mishawaka, IN 46545

Schrams Self Defense Products

(269) 845-6260 1011 Broadway, Suite 3 Niles, MI 49120