With recreational marijuana set to become legal on New Year’s Day, the owners of a medical marijuana growing and processing center in rural Stephenson County are preparing to expand and hire more employees.
In Grown Farms, owner of an 80,000-square-foot building and a smaller, 2,800-square-foot structure in the Mill Race Crossing industrial park, has been cultivating marijuana for medical use. But with Gov. JB Pritzker’s signing of legislation that legalizes adult use of recreational marijuana, In Grown Farms now plans to expand its footprint, workforce and range of products.
“I think we’re looking at a few options, without disclosing too much,” said Jake Coward, general manager of Illinois operations for Acreage Holdings, which bought In Grown Farms at the beginning of the year. “All things are definitely being considered.”
Terry Groves, Stephenson County’s director of building and zoning, said the company was considering buying property across the street for greenhouses, as well as adding onto the existing 80,000-square-foot structure, which currently is a building shell.
“I know they want to get started the middle of July,” Groves said. “Originally the whole (large) building was going to be two-thirds growing and one-third processing,” but that now could change into a 50-50 split.
Groves said discussions have involved cultivating some marijuana in that 80,000-square foot space, once construction is completed on the inside, or growing marijuana in greenhouses that could be constructed on 20 acres across the street.
County Board Chairman Bill Hadley said In Grown Farms’ expansion plans also could include a 10,000-square-foot addition to the 80,000-square-foot building.
Coward said the owners “want to take a phased approach” in order to leverage that space to fit various future needs.
“There’s an advantage to being quick, but there’s also an advantage to being thoughtful,” Coward said, adding that construction could start later this summer or in the fall.
The company won’t need County Board approval to expand, but Groves said the owners must submit plans for his approval and that heating, electrical, plumbing and fire safety code permits have to be issued. Groves said he could begin issuing permits by the end of July.
Mill Race Crossing, owned by the county, occupies about 145 acres, Hadley said. In Grown Farms, the park’s only tenant, owns just short of 20 acres. Hadley said he hopes In Grown will purchase additional acreage.
Job growth expected
As legal recreational marijuana enables the business to expand, Coward said the company will look to increase the workforce from eight to 10 full- and part-time employees to between 40 and 50 and as many as 90 over time.
Those jobs likely would be in production, extraction and sales, he said.
“There’s kind of endless opportunities. It speaks to the excitement of this industry,” Coward said. “We don’t know the path ahead of us.”
Product-palooza
Right now, the shop sells the traditional flower product used for smoking and what Coward calls high-end chocolate and honey, along with topical balms and lotions.
“Moving forward we’re going to see a vast expansion of products,” Coward said. “There’s no limit to the creativity.”
That might include capsules, marijuana-infused packages of Ramen noodles and pot-infused individual coffee cups, sometimes called K-cups.
“They’re really into beverages right now,” Groves said.
Marijuana products still will be sold for medical use, but new forms of the drug may appeal to medical clients more than existing products, so the company is open to experimentation.
“That social stigma still exists,” Coward said. “These are products that have changed people’s lives. We don’t want people to be limited and ridiculed for using products that help people.”
Kristen Zambo: 815-987-1339; kzambo@rrstar.com; @KristenZambo
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