With the legalization of recreational marijuana now on the books in New York State, the Orange County Partnership fully expects the marijuana industry to grow here in the years to come.
A growing sector (pardon the pun) is the medical marijuana industry, both in terms of dispensaries and manufacturing and distribution facilities.
Recently, the Middletown Times Herald Record reported on the proposal by PharmaCann to expand its existing medical marijuana facility by approximately 75,000 square feet of growing space occupying three acres of greenhouses. The expansion at its existing facilities on Neelytown Road in Hamptonburgh will cost somewhere between $20 million to $40 million and add 45 or more jobs to the operation, according to Maureen Halahan, president and CEO of the Orange County Partnership, who recently briefed the Orange County Legislature on the project.
PharmaCann hasn't submitted plans as of yet to Hamptonburgh's Planning Board for review, but it cleared one preliminary hurdle earlier this month when the Town Board granted it a waiver from its moratorium on development in industrial zoning districts, the Middletown Times Herald Record reported.
Kaitlynn Perez, Director of Business Attraction and Expansion at the Orange County Partnership, noted that there are two other major medical marijuana projects of note in the county. The largest is Green Thumb Industries’ $155-million proposal to build research and development, manufacturing, cultivation and distribution space for medical and adult marijuana use at the Warwick Valley Office & Technology Corporate Park.
The project calls for three phases of construction involving facilities of approximately 100,000 square-foot, 200,000-square-foot and 150,000-square-foot buildings at the Warwick Tech Park complex. The Orange County Industrial Development Agency approved a package of incentives for the project in March of this year.
Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries is a leading cannabis consumer packaged goods company and owner of Rise Dispensaries. The company announced earlier this year it would purchase the remaining eight lots available at the park (approximately 40 acres) to build out a state-of-the-art cultivation and manufacturing facility, that, once fully operational, will employ approximately 125 full-time employees. The Orange County IDA and the owner of the park—The Warwick Valley LDC—have brought in a number of small-sized cannabis-related companies to the Tech Park.
At the time of the deal, Green Thumb boasted 13 manufacturing facilities, licenses for 97 retail locations and operations across 12 U.S. markets. Established in 2014, Green Thumb employs more than 2,300 people and serves thousands of patients and customers each year. Green Thumb manufactures and distributes a portfolio of branded cannabis products. The company also owns and operates rapidly growing national retail cannabis stores called Rise Dispensaries.
Also at the Warwick Valley Office & Technology Corporate Park, Citiva Medical, licensed in 2017 to produce and sell pot for medical use, has started building a 40,000-square-foot processing plant and a 100,000-square-foot greenhouse on 10 acres at the complex, according to the Middletown Times Herald Record.
Last September, Kaycha Labs, NY opened the doors on its 9,000-square-foot medical marijuana and hemp testing facility at the Warwick Tech Park. Kaycha Labs, NY is an affiliate of Fort Lauderdale, FL-based Kaycha Labs, which operates nine labs are in California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Tennessee. The firm announced earlier this year plans to develop a new lab in Tempe, AZ.
In addition to the aforementioned cannabis labs, manufacturing and grow facilities, the Middletown Times Herald Record reports that the Hudson Valley has seven marijuana dispensaries, including locations in the Town of Wallkill, Newburgh and Kingston.
For the full Middletown Times Herald Record story, go to: https://www.recordonline.com/story/news/local/2021/06/16/eyeing-recreational-pot-hamptonburgh-grower-plans-big-expansion/7695941002/
