Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Coachella's second marijuana manufacturing and cultivation facility is expected to begin operations as soon as this summer, bringing in between $2 million and $5.5 million for the city every year in tax revenue, after the City Council unanimously approved a development agreement for the Del-Gro warehouse project Wednesday.
The $27.5 million project will be located on the 14.3 acres of the current Ajax Wrecking Yard off of Avenue 48 and will consist of 16 marijuana cultivation buildings, a warehouse and a central processing plant that will have room for offices and marijuana processing, drying and packaging.
"We chose Coachella because of the support of the city," Del-Gro CEO Ben Levine told council.
Each of the cultivation buildings would be divided up into smaller sections and rented out to independent growers, who will pay Del-Gro for the use of space and for manufacturing services. Levine told The Desert Sun in December he estimated that each grower could bring in about $56 million annually in revenue and that Del-Gro could make more than $80 million a year in rent, processing marijuana and manufacturing products such as cannabis oil.
The project's initial application was approved by the planning commission in December with the caveat of council approving the company's development agreement, which lays out how the city would tax the facility. In the agreement, Del-Gro agrees to pay the city quarterly 4 percent of the operators' gross receipts and a 2 percent manufacturing fee. In addition, the city will charge an annual facility fee of $15 per the first 20,000 square feet of the facility and $7.50 per square foot for the balance.
In November, Coachella voters approved a measure that allowed the city to charge up to $15 per square foot on cultivation and manufacturing facilities, and up to 6 percent on gross receipts from sales of marijuana products in taxes.
The facility will be built out in three simultaneous phases, starting with an interim set-up of 15 mobile units and three mobile labs along Harrison Street, but when fully built will be paying the city between $2 million and $5.5 million every year. The whole compound is expected to be built out by September, with construction beginning on the interim facility immediately.
At full strength, the facility also expects to employ more than 240 people, with wages starting between $15-25 an hour for unskilled labor, depending on experience.
For an agricultural population used to working in triple-digit heat and getting paid minimum wage, Mayor Steven Hernandez said this project is a big opportunity.
"From a quality of life perspective, this is allowing our residents to enter the middle class," Hernandez said.
This will be the second of Coachella's marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facilities to be fully approved. Cultivation Technologies Inc., which plans to open a 111,500-square-foot marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facility in the near future, is expected to bring in about $4 million to the city budget in taxes every year.
"(Marijuana) is the fastest-growing industry in the United States," Levine said. "I don't think that's slowing down."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Del-Gro Marijuana Complex Should Bring In Millions For Coachella
Author: Anna Rumer
Contact: (760) 322-8889
Photo Credit: Scott Lentz
Website: The Desert Sun
The $27.5 million project will be located on the 14.3 acres of the current Ajax Wrecking Yard off of Avenue 48 and will consist of 16 marijuana cultivation buildings, a warehouse and a central processing plant that will have room for offices and marijuana processing, drying and packaging.
"We chose Coachella because of the support of the city," Del-Gro CEO Ben Levine told council.
Each of the cultivation buildings would be divided up into smaller sections and rented out to independent growers, who will pay Del-Gro for the use of space and for manufacturing services. Levine told The Desert Sun in December he estimated that each grower could bring in about $56 million annually in revenue and that Del-Gro could make more than $80 million a year in rent, processing marijuana and manufacturing products such as cannabis oil.
The project's initial application was approved by the planning commission in December with the caveat of council approving the company's development agreement, which lays out how the city would tax the facility. In the agreement, Del-Gro agrees to pay the city quarterly 4 percent of the operators' gross receipts and a 2 percent manufacturing fee. In addition, the city will charge an annual facility fee of $15 per the first 20,000 square feet of the facility and $7.50 per square foot for the balance.
In November, Coachella voters approved a measure that allowed the city to charge up to $15 per square foot on cultivation and manufacturing facilities, and up to 6 percent on gross receipts from sales of marijuana products in taxes.
The facility will be built out in three simultaneous phases, starting with an interim set-up of 15 mobile units and three mobile labs along Harrison Street, but when fully built will be paying the city between $2 million and $5.5 million every year. The whole compound is expected to be built out by September, with construction beginning on the interim facility immediately.
At full strength, the facility also expects to employ more than 240 people, with wages starting between $15-25 an hour for unskilled labor, depending on experience.
For an agricultural population used to working in triple-digit heat and getting paid minimum wage, Mayor Steven Hernandez said this project is a big opportunity.
"From a quality of life perspective, this is allowing our residents to enter the middle class," Hernandez said.
This will be the second of Coachella's marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facilities to be fully approved. Cultivation Technologies Inc., which plans to open a 111,500-square-foot marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facility in the near future, is expected to bring in about $4 million to the city budget in taxes every year.
"(Marijuana) is the fastest-growing industry in the United States," Levine said. "I don't think that's slowing down."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Del-Gro Marijuana Complex Should Bring In Millions For Coachella
Author: Anna Rumer
Contact: (760) 322-8889
Photo Credit: Scott Lentz
Website: The Desert Sun
