Cannabis Industry Rebuilds Southwest Michigan, Restores Abandon Warehouses, Creates New Jobs

Over the past decade, in various parts of southwest Michigan, the number of abandoned and collapsing buildings has grown, due partly to businesses moving out, closing down or scaling back because of dwindling resources. As jobs and opportunities disappeared, residents also moved away, leaving these areas with more and more empty warehouses, storefronts and apartments reported the South Bend Tribune. 

Then, a light of hope appeared: legalized cannabis. 

Empty Locations Attract Investors 

Investors from the cannabis space became very interested in these abandoned places as ideal locations for their operations, whether to set up dispensaries, cultivation facilities or processing plants. 

According to city leaders, the cannabis industry pushed for and completed rebuilding activities in the area within a couple of years, which otherwise would have taken up to a decade. 

More than $50 million was invested in the infrastructure of Niles and Buchanan in the last two years alone. Both cities also created 250 new jobs. Tens of thousands of dollars for the individual communities have already filtered in from state cannabis revenue. 

At the moment, there are nine provisioning centers in Niles, Buchanan and Edwardsburg, and more are in development stages. 

"We don’t have a lake, a destination winery, or some other attraction,” said Sanya Vitale, director of community investment for Niles. “But we have this, and we’re doing it very well.”

There Is More Room To Grow 

Dispensaries like Green Stem, Primitiv and Regional Roots are either already there or will soon open.

Some companies, like Fellō Cannabis, were attracted to the area because local officials made it clear they embraced the industry. Fellō built a 40,000-square-foot building for cultivation and is now distributing their weed across 65 stores in Michigan, according to the Tribune.

“It’s an important part of our economy that provides hundreds of good jobs and millions of dollars of investment that builds our tax base and reduces the tax burden on our residents,” said Rich Murphy, community development director in Buchanan.

While cannabis may not be the only industry responsible for driving up the demand for commercial and industrial locations and rentals in southwest Michigan, there’s no doubt it has made an important impact.

The Michigan Department of the Treasury reported in March that it will provide $10 million to more than 100 municipalities and counties from the taxes it collected on cannabis sales. Under the original distribution, Berrien County was granted $140,006, Buchanan with $84,003, and Niles $56,002.

Considering that 2020 was affected by the global pandemic, all things indicate these figures will further grow in the upcoming years.

Photo by Richard T on Unsplash