NM cannabis industry leaders talk ripple effects on real estate

By Shelby Parea / Albuquerque Business First
Published on July 20, 2017

When it comes to cannabis, usually the discussion concerns revenue and taxes the crop can bring to state and local coffers. But leaders from Ultra Health and PurLife who spoke at a NAIOP breakfast Thursday discussed how New Mexico’s multimillion-dollar industry could also expand and affect real estate.

In 2016, the top 25 medical marijuana companies generated over $46 million in gross receipts and paid over $12.3 million in compensation to their employees.

Ultra Health and PurLife are medical marijuana companies both based in New Mexico.

Darren White is on the board of directors at PurLife, No. 20 on Albuquerque Business First’s Medical Marijuana Companies List. White said he knows the trouble of finding real estate for a cannabis company first hand. PurLife is opening a second location on Eubank and Montgomery this weekend but it took five months of negotiations with property owner Gene Hinkle to make it a reality. White is a former Bernalillo County Sheriff.

But White says times are starting to change and brokers are beginning to come to him and market properties toward his business. Duke Rodriguez, CEO and owner of Ultra Health is hoping even more change is on the horizon.

Rodriguez drew comparisons to Denver and illustrated New Mexico’s potential to be a leader in the next wave of cannabis production if it were legalized for social use in the state.

New Mexico became the 12th state to allow medical cannabis, according to the Department of Health. And eight states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana, according to Business Insider.

Ultra Health – which is No. 1 on our Medical Marijuana Companies List – leases 15 properties and owns two Rodriguez said and he plans to neg 15 properties more within the year.

“We haven’t had trouble finding locations,” he said. “The only difficulty is getting the state to move along.”

He said commercial cannabis cultivations occupied 4.2 million square feet of real estate in Denver after it was legalized. It was lawyers, bankers and real estate professionals that spearheaded the initiative for legalization, according to Rodriguez.

And he also noted the cannabis businesses were charged two to three times more per square foot than other businesses. Mother Earth Herbs Site Manager Derek Young previously told Albuquerque Business First dispensaries in Albuquerque are charged more per square footage than other renters because property owners know there’s less availability for these companies. Las Cruces-based Mother Earth Herbs is ranked No. 19 on our Medical Marijuana Companies List.

Rodriguez said cannabis legalization in New Mexico would push the industry to surpass film, green chile and breweries, claiming it could become a $412.5 million market in its first year. He also said it could create 11,400 new jobs and cited a New Mexico Market Analysis by O’Donnell Economics and Strategy.

It’s New Mexico’s proximity to Texas that Rodriguez sees is the ticket to a booming industry. He says cannabis users in Texas are a large potential customer base.