Pot-growing facility pitched
Council likely to endorse proposal for Queen Street site
POTTSTOWN >> You can add Pottstown to the list of places where a medical marijuana facility is being proposed — and remove Limerick.
Wednesday night, the Borough Council heard a proposal to establish a medical marijuana growing and processing facility at 740 Queen St., now home to Titan Steel and adjacent to the Neapco building.
Jon Cohn, chief operating officer for the firm, said the original proposal was from his company, Agri-Kind Inc.
But after meeting with representatives of Keystone Medical Cannabis LLC., which just last month proposed a similar facility in Limerick, the companies
decided to merge and focus on the Pottstown proposal, Cohn said.
The merged company has 23 owners, mostly from Montgomery and Chester counties (one is from Delaware County), “is 80 percent to 90 percent minority owned,” and is aiming for one of the two permits the state will issue in this sixcounty region for new grow facilities as well as a permit to operate a dispensary.
Since Pennsylvania legalized medical marijuana last April, there has been intense interest not only in the Commonwealth, but around the nation. It is estimated it will generate $6.7 billion in revenue in coming years.
What makes the Pottstown proposal unique, said Cohn, is the company wants to share some of that largesse with the borough.
Not only did the proposal say the company would share 4 to 5 percent of its revenues with the borough, but it will also provide as
many as 80 new jobs in the four years that follow the start of operations, he said.
Those jobs will have salaries between $25,000 and $110,000 and the firm is still filling its senior management positions now, Cohn said.
“We like that we’re on the town side of the tracks,” said Scott Zukin, vice president of Zukin Realty, who helped located the building and has been involved in renovating buildings in downtown West Chester.
“We want to be an economic benefit to the borough,” he said.
“We figured if we’re going to have to put $2 million into a building to get it ready, we might as well do it in a place that needs it,” said Cohn.
He said reaction to proposals throughout the region has been mixed.
“Some places absolutely don’t want it, some welcome us with open arms and others are neutral,” he said.
For example, he said when they approached Coatesville, there was already a competing proposal there “and it became very political.”
Pottstown, on the other hand, “has been very welcoming,” Cohn said, noting that Keith Place, the borough’s director of licensing and inspections, had already issued a letter saying the proposal complies with the zoning, “which is all we really need to go to the state.”
But they may get more from the borough.
“Let’s say we’re interested, very interested,” Borough President Dan Weand said. “Would it be helpful to have a letter of support from borough council?”
Every little bit helps, said Cohn.
Council will vote Monday, but it won’t take a psychic
to know how Councilman Dennis Arms will probably vote.
“I think this is great,” Arms said. “We’re always saying how we want to bring industry back to the borough, well this is industry.”
Cohn said Gov. Tom Wolf has said he wants Pennsylvania’s focus to be on medical research and the current plan for the Pottstown facility will be focus on nine of the 17 ailments for which Pennsylvania will allow medical marijuana to be used as a treatment.
The fact that Southeast Pennsylvania has so many pharmaceutical companies and universities, as well as four of the largest cancer centers in the United States, will make that much easier.
“Southeast Pennsylvania is expected to have 40 percent of the state’s patient population for medical marijuana products,” Cohn said.
He also said he would like to see the doctors at the Southeast Veterans Center get involved in research for using the products to help with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among the
“I think this is great. We’re always saying how we want to bring industry back to the borough, well this is industry.” Dennis Arms, Pottstown Borough Councilman
veterans it treats.
“Nationwide about 56 percent of doctors support the legalization of medical marijuana, but in Pennsylvania, the figure is closer to 76 percent,” Cohn said.
Since the state application period for permits began last month, the region has been swamped with proposals seeking the backing of municipal boards to gain any kind of advantage possible in the highly competitive venture.
Given that only two permits will be given out in the six-county region, which includes Philadelphia, “it will be tough to beat the Sniders, but we’ll give it our best shot,” joked Cohn.
A company run by two children and a grandson of late Philadelphia Flyers owner and medical marijuana user Ed Snider have proposed a 125,000-squarefoot grow facility, according to an article in the Northeast Times.