real estate

What to Expect in Cannabis Real Estate Deals

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

cannabis leasing competitive licensing

Cannabis Leasing in Competitive License Jurisdictions

Cannabis leasing is incredibly complicated for both lessors and lessees. But things can get a lot more complicated in competitive license jurisdictions. I’ve worked with both lessors and lessee-applicants in competitive licensing jurisdictions, and today want to highlight some of the key things I’ve seen over the years. #1 Why competitive licensing is different from

cannabis real estate

Cannabis Real Estate: Leasing v. Buying

One of the most important business decisions cannabis businesses need to make is whether to lease or buy real estate. I have worked on too many cannabis real estate transactions to count. And in my experience, the vast majority are leases. Today I want to look the top three reasons why that’s the case. #1

new york provisional license

New York Cannabis: The Provisional License and Real Estate

As we noted in our summary of the big Cannabis Control Board meeting on May 11, 2023, one significant revision to the New York adult-use rules and regulations was the creation of the “provisional license.” This mechanism allows applicants to be provisionally licensed without having secured real estate prior to submitting an application. Provisional licensing

long island cannabis dispensary zoning

Long Island Cannabis Dispensary Zoning

Prospective cannabis businesses seeking to open dispensaries on Long Island are running into several issues and roadblocks with the proposed or adopted zoning legislation restricting operators to mainly industrial areas. As it stands, dispensaries can open only in Long Island towns that opted in for retail cannabis sales. To date, Babylon, Brookhaven, Riverhead and Southampton have opted-in

new york cannabis real estate

New York Cannabis Real Estate Refresher

Real estate is on the forefront of many people’s minds with New York on the doorstep of adult-use cannabis applications. And for good reason: owning or controlling real estate will be a requirement for applicants (with some soon-to-be caveats for social equity applicants). We have fielded lots of calls from prospective adult-use cannabis applicants starting

cannabis plants growing

Triple Net Cannabis Leases

One of the most common commercial cannabis lease structures is what is commonly referred to as a “triple net” or “NNN” lease. Triple net cannabis leases allow landlords to pass on nearly all operational costs associated with a property to a tenant, which can be a big benefit for both landlords and tenants. Today, I’ll

Lease Headache

California Cannabis Leases: Assignment Headaches

Last month, I wrote a post explaining some of the issues buyers of cannabis businesses face when dealing with the landlords for the purchased business. In a nutshell, leases almost always contain clauses restricting assignment and subletting, and these clauses will often note that certain changes of control of the cannabis tenant are considered assignments

cannabis lease landlord marijuana

Cannabis M&A: Get to Know Your New Landlord

Getting to closing on a cannabis M&A transaction is always a hurdle (read about that process in detail here). There are always a lot more contingencies to closing for cannabis M&A transactions than for run-of-the-mill businesses that don’t operate in highly regulated fields (e.g., cannabis acquisitions will require approval from state and possibly local agencies).

california cannabis lease

California Cannabis Tenant Improvements: Top 7 Issues

Every single business that wants a cannabis license in California needs to buy or lease property, because licenses are tied to properties. Cannabis businesses usually opt for leases rather than purchases given the uncertainties in getting licensed or succeeding in business, and sometimes capital constraints. As part of the licensing process, state and local agencies