Staff
Desert Hot Springs in California is becoming a popular place for cannabis growers. The latest deal is an announcement by Canadian company Marapharm Ventures (OTC: MRPHF) to purchase 1.25 acres in the town. The company said that the property is approved for 20,664 square feet of cannabis cultivation and manufacturing. Marapharm paid $520,000 for that property and it is expected to close before August 31.
The company said in a statement, “The city has approved an interim plan for cultivation with a temporary certificate of occupancy which increases the value of the acquisition.” Desert Hot Springs got an early jump on other California cities when it became the first city to legalize large-scale medical marijuana cultivation. While the town has generated a lot of attention for its big Coachella festival, it wasn’t able to parley that into consistent business development.
In just two years since the town passed the ordinances in 2014, it had approved 11 applications and more than 1.7 million square feet of cultivation. The town was also just featured in a CNBC special show, “The Profit.”
“As is the case with our operations in Nevada and Washington, we are growing quickly to become a dominant player in the California cannabis market. This is the third acquisition of property we plan to use for cannabis operations in California and it brings us to 9.49 acres and 151,875 square feet of provisional licenses for medical cannabis. Where appropriate and in line with market and demand, we will transition these to recreational licenses,” said Linda Sampson, Marapharm CEO.
Premium cannabis company Canndescent was the first medical marijuana cultivation facilities in the town and delivered a check for $135,000 in tax payments last year. Tax revenue is a big incentive for the sleepy desert town to put out the welcome sign for cannabis cultivators. In addition to that, the cannabis companies are bringing jobs to the town with Canndescent contributing almost $3 million in wages.
