This Small Island Plans To Build A Massive Cannabis Cultivation Site

The Isle of Man, or marijuana? One real estate firm is building a huge cannabis grow-op on the teenie island, where the plant is illegally unregulated, with no licensed facilities.

The small self-governing country sits just between the U.K. and Ireland, and Peel Group chairman and largest shareholder John Whitaker is eager to put up the funds to build a cannabis grow facility. So eager that he’s dropped £100 million ($136 million). The firm is located on the island does not have marijuana legal in any form, meaning the cannabis grown here wouldn’t be given to patients on the island. 

Financial Director at Peel Group, Chris Eves, spoke with CNBC that although the island doesn’t have cannabis legal, it could bring in new business opportunities. “I think medicinal cannabis, pharmaceutical cannabis, is the next real opportunity for the island to steal a march on this side of the Atlantic,” he explained. 

According to reports, the new grow facility would conduct operations inside many large warehouses, which Peel Group owns and would lease to licensed tenants who are legally permitted to cultivate cannabis. “What we’re planning to develop over here is atmospherically sealed units” to “ensure maximum potency,” Eves said. 

Peel Group’s biggest issue is the licensing and application process under an unregulated cannabis market. There have been few and far applications that show the skill to run a cannabis cultivation facility, which is why Eves explained some farmers might have to be imported and make a new or temporary home on the island. 

The entire planning application is expected to be submitted by Peel Group in the following months. So far, the company expects to hold a public consultation on the island as soon as March 7. 

In addition to helping the Isle of Man’s economy by creating cannabis cultivation sites for medical export crops, sources say that Peel Group is looking into installing 11MW [megawatt] of renewable energy to give the facility its power. This tremendous amount of power is quite impressive for the small island, which will make up for 15% of the Isle of Man’s current total electricity capacity. 

Although everything seems promising, we should expect to see the cultivation site begin operations in about three years after developments, construction, applications, and ensuring the selected tenants are knowledgeable and experienced to run operations in their warehouse.