Amid the prospect of legalization, commercial players are taking a closer look at the cannabis industry
As popular and political momentum gathers in favour of marijuana legalization, observers and industry professionals alike are looking to cannabis as the next big potential winner in the Canadian real estate sphere.
Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust [PIRET], which holds approximately 21 million square feet of space across over 170 locations nationwide, has announced it will be adding the medical marijuana industry to its list of tenants.
“At the beginning we shied away from it, but more and more, it’s becoming mainstream,” said PIRET CEO Kevan Gorrie. “We would treat them as any other tenant that would require a lot of due diligence.”
Others have already taken steps toward capitalizing on the nascent sector’s potential. Aurora Cannabis is currently building a large-scale growing facility at a leased 30-acre parcel at Edmonton International Airport. Projected to be approximately the size of nine football fields upon completion, the Aurora Sky production plant will grow a projected 110 tons of marijuana per year at full capacity.
“Aurora’s new facility will benefit from high-quality services on site at EIA, including bonded warehousing, ground transportation access and air cargo connections across the country,” said EIA vice president of commercial development Myron Keehn.
Aurora officials touted the project as the turning over of a new leaf for the Alberta economy, which has been battered in recent years by oil price devaluations and the Fort McMurray blaze. Approximately 20% the industrial real estate space in Leduc, where the airport is located, went into disuse as a result of the oil price crash.
“This is a pivotal initiative for Leduc County, for Alberta, the Canadian cannabis sector and the global cannabis industry,” Aurora CEO Terry Booth said. “[Aurora Sky] will become an important contributor to the local economy, both through investments and job creation.”
At present, around 130,000 Canadians have a prescription for medical marijuana. A CIBC World Markets study earlier this year noted that the potential $10 billion industry that would spawn from legalization represents a gold mine for the Canadian industrial and commercial real estate sectors.
Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust [PIRET], which holds approximately 21 million square feet of space across over 170 locations nationwide, has announced it will be adding the medical marijuana industry to its list of tenants.
“At the beginning we shied away from it, but more and more, it’s becoming mainstream,” said PIRET CEO Kevan Gorrie. “We would treat them as any other tenant that would require a lot of due diligence.”
Others have already taken steps toward capitalizing on the nascent sector’s potential. Aurora Cannabis is currently building a large-scale growing facility at a leased 30-acre parcel at Edmonton International Airport. Projected to be approximately the size of nine football fields upon completion, the Aurora Sky production plant will grow a projected 110 tons of marijuana per year at full capacity.
“Aurora’s new facility will benefit from high-quality services on site at EIA, including bonded warehousing, ground transportation access and air cargo connections across the country,” said EIA vice president of commercial development Myron Keehn.
Aurora officials touted the project as the turning over of a new leaf for the Alberta economy, which has been battered in recent years by oil price devaluations and the Fort McMurray blaze. Approximately 20% the industrial real estate space in Leduc, where the airport is located, went into disuse as a result of the oil price crash.
“This is a pivotal initiative for Leduc County, for Alberta, the Canadian cannabis sector and the global cannabis industry,” Aurora CEO Terry Booth said. “[Aurora Sky] will become an important contributor to the local economy, both through investments and job creation.”
At present, around 130,000 Canadians have a prescription for medical marijuana. A CIBC World Markets study earlier this year noted that the potential $10 billion industry that would spawn from legalization represents a gold mine for the Canadian industrial and commercial real estate sectors.
