The grass is apparently very green in Buffalo.
A new startup cannabis group that includes the son of reggae singer Bob Marley is pursuing the possibility of setting up a research and manufacturing facility in Buffalo, although it has not made any commitments and is still exploring other locations as well.
The law gives cities, towns and villages the ability to opt out of allowing cannabis retail dispensaries or on-site consumption licenses.
The New York City-based group, dubbed Ace Ventures, met Tuesday for about an hour with Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown and Economic Development Commissioner Brendan Mehaffy to discuss their desire to bring pot production to the Queen City. They did not indicate a timeframe for making a decision.
“They left expressing their significant interest in making an investment,” Brown said.
“The organization said that they were very serious about the city of Buffalo,” the mayor added. “They like Buffalo. They’ve done a lot of research on Buffalo. They think Buffalo is a good place to be.”
Effective Thursday, it is legal for a person to possess up to 3 ounces of marijuana. It is, for now, still illegal to sell marijuana in New York State.
If it happens, Ace would be the second such development effort in the city, after the $200 million cultivation, research and production project that Brad Termini’s Zephyr Investors has proposed for the Buffalo Lakeside Commerce Park in South Buffalo.
That venture has been in the works for the past two years, but was held up until the state earlier this year legalized recreational adult use of marijuana. Even now, both Ace and Termini are still waiting for the state to unveil the regulations and licensing procedures that would govern the operations and size of any such facility.
For now, Ace Ventures has not identified any particular property, but Brown said the group talked about creating hundreds of jobs. He called them “an impressive group of people, with significant private-sector experience, significant resources and significant management experience.”
Brown said two of the partners have Buffalo ties – one is a Buffalo native who now has a cannabis business in Massachusetts, while another is a venture capitalist who graduated from University at Buffalo. It is also a minority-owned partnership.
“It would certainly be a good group that would be attractive to the city of Buffalo,” he said.
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