Western New York’s first proposed legal pot farm and production facility got the green light from city planners Monday night as developer Rocco Termini’s son pursues the initial phase of his $200 million high-tech cannabis campus in South Buffalo.
Brad Termini’s Zephyr Partners wants to construct a sprawling complex for marijuana cultivation and manufacturing, using 72.4 acres of vacant land in the Buffalo Lakeside Commerce Park, just off Tifft Street, east of Route 5. (Image credit: BMS Design Studios. Zephyr Partners’ proposed cannabis campus in South Buffalo.)
In all, officials said the project could employ 500 to 1,000 people when fully operational.
He’s planning to start small for now to get the effort underway. But plans ultimately call for creating more than 1.375 million square feet of building space to grow marijuana plants, make a variety of products and conduct medical research – including on the potential benefits for cancer patients.
According to its application to the Buffalo Planning Board, Zephyr intends to focus first on 10.84 acres of land at 310 Ship Canal Parkway – of which only 5.33 acres can be used – and another 4.92 acres at 15 Laborers’ Way. Those sites are north of the Union Ship Canal, with protected wetlands just to the north.
On Ship Canal, the company plans to invest $13.5 million to develop 143,080 square feet of cannabis grow facilities, along with space for processing, quality control, extraction, research, shipping and receiving. That includes a two-story, pre-fabricated metal industrial building of 136,080 square feet and a smaller, 7,000-square-foot, one-story building for a separate tenant.
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