Pot company CEO sees future in West Oakland warehouse
Chip Moore, the CEO of 4&20 Blackbirds, a cannabis delivery company, is making a big bet on Oakland’s pot economy.
He and his business partners just purchased a 9,000-squarefoot warehouse on Mandela Parkway in West Oakland for $1.96 million.
The cinder block building that up until last week housed a marine-focused distributor of valves, pipes and fittings has much more space than a cannabis delivery company needs to store inventory.
That’s because Moore hopes to do something bigger than delivering weed. He eventually wants to own a storefront dispensary. Because this is Oakland, he’ll probably have to wait a while.
Oakland’s permitting system for pot businesses was repeatedly stalled as the City Council debated reparations for people of color disproportionately affected by marijuana arrests
and convictions.
The system the council finally approved seeks to right past wrongs by granting pot business permits to two applicant groups: general applicants and so-called “equity” applicants who were convicted of a marijuana-related offense in Oakland, earn an income less than 80 percent of the city average or have lived in an Oakland neighborhood for 10 of the past 20 years that saw a disproportionately high number of cannabis arrests.
The city can grant a general permit for each equity permit it grants. The cap means that a lack of equity applicants could stop general applicants from moving forward with their plans.
Under the system, equity applicants who don’t have a place to operate their business can get free real estate for up to three years by partnering with a general applicant who would provide a “minimum of 1,000 square feet” for the equity business.
The thought is that general applicants would serve as incubators for equity applicants. Their reward for doing so is that they’d move to the front of the permit line.
But Moore, who is black, sees the system as a barrier for minority owners who want to fully tap into the multibillion-dollar industry.
He believes that for black and brown entrepreneurs to survive in the cannabis business, they have to be self-sufficient. And that’s not what Oakland’s equity permit system is currently offering. That’s why he bought his own building.
“The only way that we can compete with the companies that have already established themselves and the companies that are coming is to make a significant gamble on Oakland and, more specifically, West
“We’re gonna go ahead and invest in this building . ... This will be our ethos, our community footprint.” Chip Moore, CEO, pot delivery company 4&20 Blackbirds
Oakland,” Moore said. “There was no way for us to build a serious cannabis business as an equity applicant.”
Right now, Oakland has eight permitted dispensaries. And it’s unclear how long Moore will have to wait to apply for a dispensary license — and whether he’ll get one once he does apply.
Greg Minor, who oversees pot permitting, told me the process to accept applications for storefront dispensaries is being finalized.
Minor said there will be up to eight new permits available for dispensaries “in the next couple of months” — split evenly between general and equity applicants.
James Anthony, an Oakland lawyer who helps marijuana entrepreneurs start their businesses, doesn’t think the city should have a cap on dispensaries.
“If you look at it from the point of view of the consumer or the patient, more variety, more convenience, more price competition, more diversity — all of that is good for the consumer,” he said.
Moore hopes his business will be more of a cultural hub than a dispensary.
Sure, Moore wants to sell weed. But he also wants to host cannabis-related education courses. In the outdoor space, he envisions events with food trucks. Maybe even concerts.
“We’re gonna go ahead and invest in this building,” Moore said. “Not only as our cannabis cultural center, but our flagship. This will be our ethos, our community footprint.”
I recently took a tour of the building, which long ago was a fish processing plant. The area behind the building was once used as dump site for tires, clothes, furniture and needles.
The popular restaurant Brown Sugar Kitchen is across the street. Patrons who park on 26th Street are warned not to leave personal items in their cars because the street is notorious for ghostly smash-and-grab thieves.
David Brown, president of MESH Design Build Studio, the design firm hired to renovate the building, plans to incorporate the feel of the industrial area into a contemporary design that will be inviting to patrons and people who live in the neighborhood.
“We’re not underestimating the importance of what we’re doing here,” Brown said. “We believe that this could truly be a unique destination space, not only in Oakland but in the Bay Area.”