Cannabis real estate transactions can be notoriously complicated – much more so than your average real estate deal. On January 9, 2024, I’ll be speaking on a panel called “Navigating Real Estate Issues Impacting the Cannabis Industry” for the Los Angeles County Bar Association, where my co-panelists and I plan on touching on many of the most precarious issues in these sorts of transactions. Today, I want to preview some of the key issues we see in these kinds of deals.
Location, location, location
The most important factor in any cannabis real estate transaction is location. Licensing authorities impose all sorts of requirements or restrictions on real estate locations, including:
Zoning laws are usually hyper restrictive for cannabis companies. Cannabis businesses may be relegated to very small areas within a city. Permissible zones often change depending on the type of use. For example, some cities may allow storefront retail facilities closer to residential areas, whereas you can virtually guaranty that volatile manufacturing will be stuck in industrial zones. States and cities also impose all kinds of location-specific restrictions. Cannabis businesses, for example, may be prohibited within X feet of schools, parks, churches, libraries, etc. In places like California, cities
Read full article on HarrisBricken
