Lev Secures $41.5M In Cannabis CRE Financing Breaking Down Barriers To Federal Loans

Lev, the commercial real estate (CRE) financing platform, announced the completion of over $40 million in cannabis CRE loans across five different sponsors, with an additional $50 million in the pipeline. Lev works with investors to navigate complex hurdles at the federal and state levels to close cannabis deals.

A portion of the deal locations include Sacramento, CA, Denver, CO, Tempe, AZ, and Lakeville, MA, including a loan of $16.8 million for the Massachusetts property. Lev also aided in the closing of one national portfolio with properties in Missouri, Arizona, and California, closing the deal at $15 million in proceeds. Spanning the U.S., each property type falls into the category of cultivation facility, commercial dispensary, or mixed-use retail property using non-recourse loans for funding.

According to Bryan McLaren, CEO of Zoned Properties ZDPY, the real estate development firm that closed a debt financing deal on its Tempe, AZ property, "By working with Lev, we were able to close quickly and secure an initial debt facility of up to $4.5 million. Lev was able to help us secure deal terms above and beyond the vast majority of cannabis deal structures we've seen over the past decade. At Zoned Properties, we're focused on expanding our pipeline of properties within complex industries like legalized cannabis, and having expert capital partners is essential. It's been a fun challenge that's made possible by working with other forward-looking industry leaders like Lev."

Yaakov Zar, founder and CEO of Lev, stated, "We've worked hard to build our relationships with federal banks at Lev and it's paying off. The cannabis CRE market is notoriously tricky–different states have different regulations and closing a deal can be complicated. Intricate processes like this are where Lev's technology truly shines. We've reached the point where we've acted as consultants for federal banks considering entering the market, and I can only see our role in the industry continue to grow from here."

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash