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Marijuana legalization is fueling demand for dilapidated industrial buildings, reshaping struggling communities and sending property prices soaring.
Acrview Market Research said legal pot sales hit $6.7B in 2016 and are expected to rise above $20B by 2021, creating an entirely new sector in the industrial real estate market. Plus companies working in the cannabis trade typically pay above market rate for warehouses given the challenges facing the business, the New York Times reports.
While marijuana is fueling industrial’s boom, some experts said investors supporting these projects could lose over the long term. Should federal regulations that forbid marijuana transportation across state lines loosen, it could result in many growers abandoning local markets and moving to cheaper, larger greenhouses.
