Grow space "impossible" to find in Anchorage, says Realtor

elkamino said:

Had to leave early, couldn't stand listening to Demboski nickel and dime the voters intent to REGULATE CANNABIS LIKE ALCOHOL.

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Its all good bro.. Listening to Demboski's voice is like listening to fingernails on a chalkboard. I just dipped out.

Need to start circulating a picture of her with a cock in her mouth..

GrowerGoneWild said:

Its all good bro.. Listening to Demboski's voice is like listening to fingernails on a chalkboard. I just dipped out.

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Seriously, her voice is off the hook annoying. She called out Evans for sarcasm? She's a fucking troll, picking off every little thing she can, disrespecting the voters desire to REGULATE LIKE ALCOHOL. Honestly her voice/nastiness reminds me of fucking Nelly Olsen on Little House on the Prairie in the late '70s.

Hats off to Evans tho! He voted against legalization and now somehow he's the sole voice of reason on the assembly? Brother seriously needs to hear from his constituents, that's an impressive about-face! His testimony tonight literally convinced enough of his fellow alderman to reduce the 1000' distance from schools/churches/everydamnthing to half that, on the spot, so hats off to him. They even admitted it. He literally hit all the proper notes, he was right and it WORKED, even with some conservative members. I'm guessing he was coached by Schulte? Because his testimony, time and again, was TIGHT.

Councilman Flynn on the other hand, wtf. I wish he'd take a public speaking course, he says most of the right things but in hella awkward ways, sweating and fidgiting around. Tries too hard.

Seriously though I'm mostly just impressed that this body of truly odd ducks has come around a little bit. But scary to know that Domboski will be a seasoned mayoral candidate next time around... fuck.

I was unable to make the meeting but I watched it on my computer she was just horrible I cannot stand her and never have ever since she tried to baned all of anchorage from starting in on the market. As the crow flies is total BS and it sucks they didn't approve for home grows back to the call board and hitting. The pavement to find a location for my business it sucks hope I can find something.

nvhak49 said:

I was unable to make the meeting but I watched it on my computer she was just horrible I cannot stand her and never have ever since she tried to baned all of anchorage from starting in on the market. As the crow flies is total BS and it sucks they didn't approve for home grows back to the call board and hitting. The pavement to find a location for my business it sucks hope I can find something.

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Sorry to hear. At least keep in mind that the assemble agrees this will be an evolving body of rules.

Keep us in the loop on how that and the 1000' to 500' rule change affect your search, hopefully between the good and bad at least some more space is opened up for cultivation and retail. On the bright side at least you won't have to consider commuting up to ER!

@GrowerGoneWild

I think I may have spotted you last night. I heard a young lady ask a guy in a gray/orange jacket, "What's cannabis?" I was seated just a few seats away and we made eye contact.

elkamino said:

@GrowerGoneWild

I think I may have spotted you last night. I heard a young lady ask a guy in a gray/orange jacket, "What's cannabis?" I was seated just a few seats away and we made eye contact.

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Hah.. naw prolly not me.. I was about 6-7 rows back on the left side, ya know where that cops sit and the chairs kinda face the audience, kinda near the sound booth. that was me.. I like to stare at cops... *hahahaha*

I had to sit next to the moral majority and grandma.. just listening to them literally acknowledge amy dumbimboisky every fucking word out of that cunts mouth. I wanted to puke.. Gah.. I should have found different seats.

elkamino said:

Hats off to Evans tho! He voted against legalization and now somehow he's the sole voice of reason on the assembly? Brother seriously needs to hear from his constituents, that's an impressive about-face! His testimony tonight literally convinced enough of his fellow alderman to reduce the 1000' distance from schools/churches/everydamnthing to half that, on the spot, so hats off to him. They even admitted it. He literally hit all the proper notes, he was right and it WORKED, even with some conservative members. I'm guessing he was coached by Schulte? Because his testimony, time and again, was TIGHT.

Councilman Flynn on the other hand, wtf. I wish he'd take a public speaking course, he says most of the right things but in hella awkward ways, sweating and fidgiting around. Tries too hard.

Seriously though I'm mostly just impressed that this body of truly odd ducks has come around a little bit. But scary to know that Domboski will be a seasoned mayoral candidate next time around... fuck.

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I too was impressed that some of the assembly members did get it. They did not submit to fear, but applied logic to the situation. They wanted a regulated market. The fact is Amy lied on the situation in Eagle River according to Jim Dyer of JKD brands. He attended the townhall meeting and there were people that welcomed the MJ market, she fabricated the situation about the overwhelming support to ban manufacture.. Even if Jim was incorrect there was a very obvious blocking move from Amy to still get the 1000 foot rule for Er/Chug area. By having specific areas include the 1000 ft rule.

I think Flynn was trying to hold back.. the problem with this type of debate is to win over by getting a vote, not to piss off somebody by mumbling out its the lawyer in me i'm a jerk comment. But still Flynn was on point, he still gets thumbs up from me for putting out the ammendments.

The MCB's new "tentative" timeline. From yesterday's meeting.

Alaska Journal of Commerce
February-Issue-3 2016

http://www.alaskajournal.com/2016-02-17/marijuana-industry-faces-steep-lease-rates-tight-market#.VsX1EHQrIy4

Marijuana industry faces steep lease rates in tight market

By:
DJ Summers

Posted:
Wed, 02/17/2016 - 4:18pm
Marijuana business can expect a hefty square footage price for retail, cultivation, and manufacturing leases within the Municipality of Anchorage once they open for business.

On Feb. 24, the Alaska Marijuana Control Board will start accepting business license applications. In the meantime, several industry sources report being charged several times the average per square footage lease rate for their planned marijuana operations, or entering into lease agreements that give a percentage of business profits to the landlord.

This follows an observed pattern of real estate investment in both Washington and Colorado, where real estate brokers and media reported industrial warehouse space in marijuana-zoned areas being leased up to four times the average rate.

A combination of market factors and regulations drive prices up for marijuana-friendly buildings and make owning such buildings a lucrative enterprise.

On Feb. 9, the Anchorage Assembly passed an amended land use ordinance requiring setbacks between marijuana business and schools, churches, recreational facilities, and child-centered facilities. However, the assembly will reconsider those land use regulations at a Feb. 23 meeting.

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Market rates for these zones go up as scores of marijuana businesses vie for limited space.

The land restrictions create pockets of proper zoning in B-3 business zones for retail and industrial zones for cultivation facilities, largely concentrated in Midtown-Spenard and South Anchorage. Wasilla’s recent ban on commercial marijuana intensifies the demand for space in Anchorage as Mat-Su entrepreneurs look for opportunities farther south.

In turn, landlords see an opportunity to charge two or three times the average rate, in keeping with real estate patterns in other states where commercial marijuana has been legalized.

Because of residency restrictions on licenses, Outside investors eyeing Alaska cannabis have no other route beyond real estate speculation, seeking to make profits through lease rates. Beyond profit motive, investors have a familiarity with real estate they don’t have for marijuana.

Lower 48 real estate investors already control a sizable portion of Anchorage industrial space. Seattle’s Slattery Properties owns 15 industrial buildings in Anchorage, and has been present in Anchorage since 1989.

Slattery Properties recently outbid Chris and Rick Euscher, who are planning the marijuana cultivation facility RC Tinderbox, on an industrial building, leading to some industry speculation that the company plans to corner the cultivation market.

Michael Slattery, the owner of Slattery Properties, said his company is not actively courting the marijuana industry, and that his properties’ conformity with marijuana zoning requirements is happenstance.

“We have not purchased anything outside of our core competency,” said Slattery. “The properties we have purchased add synergy to the other seven properties we own in the Cinnabar Loop (in South Anchorage). It’s not our intent to specifically target that industry.”

Insurance rates are too high for Slattery to want a large portfolio of marijuana businesses — Lloyd’s of London charges rates up to 250 percent above average for marijuana-related coverage — and Slattery himself said he has “moral issues renting to marijuana types.”

The building in question sits in South Anchorage, home to the vast majority of marijuana-zoned industrial space. Slattery has owned properties in Cinnabar Loop dating back to 1989, according to municipal records.

Though the company isn’t looking for marijuana clientele, Slattery said he does “keep an eye” on market trends.

“I’m not saying we’re going to be looking for them, but as market forces bring the industry out, if they’re socially responsible, and if they meet the regulatory requirements…they need to go somewhere,” he said.

Real estate investment and the resulting price increases for marijuana entrepreneurs has been a fixture of the market since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2014. Investor networks from the Lower 48 say real estate is often the first choice for potential investors, as it doesn’t require any knowledge specific to cannabis business and bypasses the residency restrictions in each state.

“Probably some of the most prominent and prolific investment in the cannabis industry has been done in real estate,” said Steve Berg, who co-founded ArcView Group, an investor network geared explicitly for cannabis business investment. “The residency restrictions many states prohibit or at least restrict the ability of non-state residents to acquire interest. But there’s nothing to stop them from being landlords to a cannabis companies.”

Berg said cannabis investors view real estate as the least risky and least restrictive ways to seed their money. Residency restrictions like Alaska’s — which bans all non-resident money from Alaska marijuana licenses — channels investment dollars that might otherwise have gone directly into business expenses.

Cannabis businesses make for attractive tenants, Berg said. Beyond the newness and novelty, they are sound investments, with business plans and good profitability. If regulations or market conditions turn the business belly up, the investor still has the building.

“From a risk-reward perspective, that’s very attractive to many investors that are coming out… If it plays out in Anchorage as it does in every other jurisdiction, the areas zoned for cannabis business inevitably see premium lease rates,” said Berg.”

Already-legal marijuana markets experienced both an organic growth in marijuana-zoned building values and an increase in marijuana-specific premium rates from landlords.

Real estate owners raised prices on marijuana industry businesspeople in Washington when it rolled out its recreational cannabis industry. In Washington in 2013, Seattle area landlords charged marijuana real estate deals of 150 percent to 200 percent premiums, reported the Seattle Times.

One unnamed party recently paid a $50,000 premium — above the lease rate — for a storefront outside of Seattle.

Greta Carter, a Seattle marijuana activist who passed on the tip, said the leaser paid it because the location was a prime spot, albeit grudgingly.

“We’re accustomed to paying a premium in the cannabis industry, but you cross a line when you want $50,000 up front,” she said.

In Denver, the “green rush” spiked prices for properly zoned industrial areas to highs not seen since 2004, reported the Denver Post. In 2015, industrial lease rates climbed to $7.05 per square foot. Like Seattle, marijuana tenants were often asked to pay two or three times the average lease rate.

DJ Summers can be reached at [email protected].

Published on Alaska Dispatch News (http://www.adn.com)


Home > Anchorage Assembly to re-vote on marijuana regulations next week
Devin Kelly [1]
February 17, 2016
Main Image:
anchorage assembly 02.jpg [2]
When it comes to setting up a pot business in Anchorage, the way its distance is measured from a school can make a big difference in whether the business is allowed or not.

At its most recent meeting, amid a flurry of amendments to land use regulations, the Anchorage Assembly passed conflicting rules for the measurement method. One amendment, from Assemblymembers Amy Demboski and Bill Starr, specified that distances would be measured "as the crow flies" [3] -- from the edge of a marijuana business to the lot line of a protected area -- instead of by pedestrian routes, which could be more circuitous.

Industry members immediately seized on the straight line, more restrictive approach, saying it would rule out many more prospective business locations than the circuitous routes that people actually walk.

During the same meeting, however, the Assembly approved setting the required separation distance between pot businesses and schools, churches and other protected uses at 500 feet. That amendment, from Assemblyman Patrick Flynn, included a reference to pedestrian routes as the measurement method. [4]

In an email to the city clerk’s office, Flynn and Assemblyman Pete Petersen pointed out the discrepancy and asked that the Assembly reconsider the regulations at its upcoming meeting on Tuesday.

The more restrictive Demboski-Starr amendment passed 6-5. But it’s not clear that whether the amendment would pass again next Tuesday — Assembly Chair Dick Traini said this week he was changing his vote to require measuring by pedestrian route.

“As the crow flies … it puts so many pieces of property off-limits,” Traini said. “It’s better to have pedestrian walkway. Most people don’t have wings.”

After last week’s meeting, Demboski said the lot line measurement method was a fair compromise -- she noted the Assembly voted to cut separation distances from 1,000 feet to 500 feet in all parts of Anchorage except Chugiak-Eagle River.

Unlike subjective pedestrian routes, Demboski also said that measuring by lot lines would serve as an “unambiguous standard,” said Demboski, a view reinforced by city officials who said it would be much easier to map.

Fee for permit
Separately, the administration of Mayor Ethan Berkowitz is introducing at next week’s meeting a flat fee to apply for a special land use permit for marijuana -- $1,700.

The fee is aimed only at covering costs associated with processing the permits, Chris Schutte, Berkowitz’s director of economic and community development, wrote in an email. Documents submitted to the Assembly show no net revenue to the city’s treasury for a permit.

Schutte said the fee was calculated based on average staff time that will be spent reviewing applications, visiting sites and making maps. He said the fee will also cover reviews by other agencies, including building fire and safety inspections, and costs associated with mailing public notices.

For comparison, Schutte said, it costs the city $1,500 to process a conditional use permit for a small restaurant, or a tiny (134-square-foot) bar. It costs $1,700 to process a permit for a mid-sized restaurant, he said.

To operate a pot business in Anchorage, applicants will be required to have both a special land use permit and a local license, in addition to the state license. The city is not requiring a separate license fee, with officials saying those costs will be shared with the state.

Neighborhood planning
Another ordinance being introduced at Tuesday’s meeting lays out more details on the city’s expectations [5]for how pot business owners will collaborate with their neighbors.

Rooted in an approach proposed by the Fairview Community Council, the effort to put a “neighborhood responsibility plan” into local law was spearheaded by Demboski, and the latest version is co-sponsored by Demboski, Traini and Assemblyman Ernie Hall. The ordinance allows the Assembly to take neighborhood engagement into account when reviewing license applications.

Here are some of the elements:

• Licensed pot businesses should provide a point of contact to community councils, with a name and contact information, and an after-hours contact for “community alerts and assistance.”
• Community councils should establish a point of contact and a preferred communication method.
• Property owners, the community council and immediate residents should set out a schedule to “touch base and mitigate any potential issues.”
• A memorandum of understanding should be set up between neighbors and the property owner, to be periodically reviewed and updated.

The new ordinances on fees and neighborhood planning come a week before the state of Alaska starts accepting applications for pot businesses.


Source URL: http://www.adn.com/article/20160217/anchorage-assembly-re-vote-marijuana-regulations-next-week
Links:
[1] http://www.adn.com/author/devin-kelly
[2] http://www.adn.com/image/anchorage-assembly-02jpg
[3] http://www.muni.org/Departments/Assembly/Documents/19.pdf
[4] http://www.muni.org/Departments/Assembly/Documents/4.pdf
[5] http://www.adn.com/sites/default/files/neighrespplan.PDF

elkamino said:

Alaska Journal of Commerce
February-Issue-3 2016

http://www.alaskajournal.com/2016-02-17/marijuana-industry-faces-steep-lease-rates-tight-market#.VsX1EHQrIy4

Marijuana industry faces steep lease rates in tight market

By:
DJ Summers

Posted:
Wed, 02/17/2016 - 4:18pm
Marijuana business can expect a hefty square footage price for retail, cultivation, and manufacturing leases within the Municipality of Anchorage once they open for business.

In Denver, the “green rush” spiked prices for properly zoned industrial areas to highs not seen since 2004, reported the Denver Post. In 2015, industrial lease rates climbed to $7.05 per square foot. Like Seattle, marijuana tenants were often asked to pay two or three times the average lease rate.

DJ Summers can be reached at [email protected].

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Lame, the industry is getting wrecked by speculation and greed, and the "moral majority".

The insanity of the whole situation.. Even if I could locate a space for growing I would be hard pressed to make the feb 24th lic application date.