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NYC plan to allow cannabis cultivation on public housing rooftops runs into federal hurdles

2022-04-19T17:34:00-04:00

At an April 9 panel discussion in Albany, Adams said his team was exploring whether the city could allow cannabis cultivation on the rooftops of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) facilities. The idea, he said, would be to employ NYCHA residents to staff and oversee the greenhouses as the state continues to roll out its recreational marijuana program for adults. “The jobs can come from NYCHA residents. The proceeds and education can go right into employing people right in the area.”

As part of its economic development agenda, the Adams administration has been pushing an ambitious pilot program for rooftop cultivation on federally-funded NYCHA public housing properties. The current laws, however, still classify marijuana as a controlled substance, leading to an inevitable impasse. An inbound decriminalization bill written by New York Democratic congressman Jerry Nadler could clear the way for legal grow operations on such property via an update to the federal guidelines, which a spokesperson for the mayor told Gothamist are held over from a pernicious era of public policymaking.

“[Federal] laws still on the books continue to harm the same communities that have been targeted for decades,” City Hall spokesperson Charles Lutvak explained. “The House passed legislation to this effect earlier this month, and we need those who are obstructing progress at the federal level to follow New York’s lead.”

Related on Archinect: Michael Kimmelman on some newer rays of light ...

Lloyd Wright's infamous Sowden House purchased by "marijuana millionaire"

2019-06-13T13:25:00-04:00

In Los Angeles, where even houses get their proverbial close-ups as TV or movie locations, a property’s appeal can crest on its IMDb credits alone. But only the Sowden House in the Los Feliz neighborhood can claim film cameos, a pedigreed architect and a history as the possible site of a grisly unsolved murder. Never mind the fact that the exterior entryway resembles a menacing maw, earning it the apt nickname “the Jaws house.”

The Sowden House, in Los Feliz, California, has one of the most storied pasts in architecture and Hollywood history. Designed by Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright, the home was completed in 1926 for John and Ruth Sowden as a "bohemian playhouse for aspiring actors and Hollywood bons vivants," according to the New York Times.

Interior of Sowden House. Photographer unknown.

The home has since changed hands more than five times (while racking up a slew of controversies, including being the alleged site of the Black Dahlia murder in 1947 and otherwise being known as a host for lurid late night parties), and has most recently been acquired for $4.7 million by event planner Jenny Landers and "marijuana millionaire" Dan Goldfarb, an entrepreneur, former hedge fund analyst and founder of Canna-Pet, a company producing "the only legal, veterinarian-recommended, non-prescription CBD products for animals."

Since acquiring the home last year, the couple has hosted numerous events, includi...

Electric Lettuce redefines the retail marijuana experience with a polished 1960s vibe

2018-08-07T17:37:00-04:00

As legalized marijuana begins to sweep the U.S, the rapidly expanding cannabis industry has ushered in a new era of high-design shops trading out tie-dye and Grateful Dead tees for smoking devices that look straight out of an Apple store and products wrapped in designs by Pentagram.

Electric Lettuce, a recreational dispensary with multiple locations across Oregon, delivers this modern stoner culture in spades. Deeply rooted in the 1960s—with a waiting lounge decorated in vintage cannabis paraphernalia where customers can listen to records spinning Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix—the store evokes a classic counterculture feel with a polished touch.

Photo by Lincoln Barbour.

The team behind the store—JHL Design working alongside branding agency OMFG Co.—have worked together before to deliver another one of Portland's fancy weed stores, Serra. Serra is a sophisticated, minimalist shop that one would reasonably walk into thinking it was a jewelry store. Electric Lettuce, on the other hand...

A cannabis business is buying a small town in California with plans to transform it into the first weed "infused" tourist destination

2017-08-07T14:12:00-04:00

Nipton, California has all the makings of a stoner heaven. There’s a general store, a hotel, a campground, an endless supply of delicious water, and—for those late-night giggles—a Castle Butt Road. Perhaps that’s why American Green Inc., an eight-year-old self-described marijuana “seed-to-sale innovator,” decided to purchase the 80-acre town (population six) and turn it into “the country’s first energy-independent, cannabis-friendly hospitality destination.”

The Gold Rush was the largest mass migration in U.S history with over 300,000 people arriving in California hoping to reap its benefits. Well over a century and a half later, many of the towns along the coast, once vibrant, have been left as ghost towns as anyone taking a road trip along the 5 can attest to. However, with the legalization of marijuana sweeping the coast, some believe the newly legalized industry can usher in a 21st century version.

One company, American Green Inc., is in the process of buying the town of Nipton, CA—a remnant of the California Gold Rush—in the hopes of turning it into a weed "infused" tourist destination. The town has a rich history, bustling from the late 19th to mid-20th centuries along with the mining industry, and even boasting a hotel that played host to the silent-movie star Clara Bow, who owned a ranch nearby.

Today, the town has a fluctuating population of 20 to 70 people and offers tremendous natural resources in the form of a Pleistocene-e...

Marijuana Real Estate: This isn't just another greenhouse

2017-05-21T23:57:00-04:00

Innovative Industrial Properties, Kalyx and other similar groups are following the same strategy: buy buildings, retrofit them and lease them to commercial or medical marijuana growers. But it can often cost millions to turn a vacant warehouse into a facility suitable for cannabis cultivation.

David Gelles reports that the spread of legalization means the weed business is booming and with it, demand for commercial, industrial space. The latest post-industrial trend in states like California, Colorado, Massachusetts or even New York is a retrofitted industrial-scale "cultivation center."

photo by Ryan Mungia

Related readings include; a 2005 look at how Pot Clinics (were) Grow(ing) Like Weed in SF and last year's photo essay of L.A.'s "Green Mile." Or back in February, the Marketplace Morning Report on how these new REITs could help grow the medical-marijuana business.

photo by Ryan Mungia

Finally, last year over at the Weed thread, gruen noted "Big gold rush here to convert disused industrial facilities to indoor grow in advance of legislation."

Colorado governor proposes building affordable housing from marijuana tax revenue, mainly to address issues from marijuana legalization

2016-12-19T15:27:00-05:00

A proposal by Gov. John Hickenlooper to direct marijuana revenue toward building affordable housing and curbing homelessness offers a glimpse into the potential the new revenue can have on public services and projects...To the chagrin of pro-marijuana activists, Hickenlooper believes there is a correlation between homelessness, a need for affordable housing and substance abuse, including impacts from marijuana legalization.

Gov. Hickenlooper requested $18.3 million ($16.3 million from marijuana taxes and $2.0 million from the General Fund) toward affordable housing as part of his FY 2017-18 State budget this past November. The Gazette reports that Hickenlooper and his administration “are hesitant to acknowledge that cannabis dollars can have a positive impact on expanding state programs” and that they are currently “adamant that the dollars should be spent only on issues related to marijuana.”

Photographing every pot shop on L.A.'s "Green Mile"

2016-06-14T19:13:00-04:00

In particular, La Brea to Fairfax, which parallels Miracle Mile on Wilshire, was a hotbed of dispensaries with some areas having up to 3 on the same block, making it “the Green Mile.” [...] I began noticing how the dispensaries branded themselves through signage and typography, and what these choices might convey to their prospective clientele. Second, the fleeting nature of these businesses was such that the green paint hardly dried before a “For Lease” sign would appear

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