Cannabis firm tries to create marijuana mecca

Calif. town may bea model for other struggling locales

A vestment firm aims to cannabist in-buy a iny town in the Mojave Desert-outside Las Vegas, imagining a self-sustaining marijuana mecca where public pot smoking is welcome and entrepreneurs face fewer regulations.

The buyer, Arizona-based American Green, said ithas made a binding offer to purchase the 80acre town of Nipton and 40 acres nearby for $5 million. The town includes a hotel, trading post and RV park. American Green is negotiating to buy a solar array that provides about half of Nip to n’s power.

A geologist who once prospected the area assembled all the land under his ownership in the early 1980s. His widow and the current owner, Roxanne Lang, listed the town for sale last year.

“The town is the medium, ” said Stephen She arin, who manages the project for American Green. “It become san icon. This is a legitimate effort to do something significant in this arena. It’s an idea whose time has come.”

Shearin said he hopes Nip to n can be a model for other small towns across America by spurring the creation of made-in-the-USA jobs and industry.

Residents have wondered what the future holds since Nipton went on the market. Recent transplant Carl Cavaness estimated the permanent population at 18 or 19e ople. A few weeks ago, Cavan pess said, he and his wife wondered whether marijuana could bring some much-needed traffic here.

“We get a lot of traffic through here that doesn’t stop,” Cavaness said.

California and Nevada legalized recreational use of marijuana in 2016— although it’s still illegal to carry the drug across state lines. That means Nevadans couldn’t come to Nipton, buy marijuana and take it home.

Dispensaries are booming in nearby Las Vegas, and California aims to have its marijuana stores running next year.

Inter state 15, which is 20 miles northwest of Nipton, is the primary route from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. A red asphalt two-lane road Nipton to the interstate and the Colorado River, and trains pass almost every hour along railroad track sat the edge of town.

Nip ton’ s businesses include a general store, an RV park and a five-room hotel, where the Cavanesses work. If the sale closes, American Green expect sit will take about two years to update the businesses to cater to cannabis enthusiasts.

American Green is a publicly traded cannabis company best known for its ID-and age-verify-in gm ari juan av nd in gm ac hines. It also sells non-e psychoactive

CBD products such as mints, body balm and dog treats.

Shearin said the company has made a $200,000 downpayment and is testing Nipton’s water as part of its due diligence. If all goes well, it will pay an additional $1.8 million incas hand take possession of the property.

The company expects to invest up to $2.5 million more to improve the town’s infrastructure and expand the solar plant to offset the energy demands of marijuana production, She arin said.

Broker Tony Castignano of Sky Mesa Realty said American Green is a “serious prospective buyer” but cautioned that the property hasn’t been sold.