As more banking moves online and more Southwest Floridians choose marijuana as a medical treatment, the real estate market has created the perfect fit. In Lee County, two different medical marijuana companies each leased or bought different buildings that were formerly bank branches.
Trulieve struck first with the Tallahassee-based company paying $1.2 million in October for what had been a Bank of America branch at 15620 Summerlin Road.
“Banks are great facilities for several reasons,” said Rob Kremer, executive director of corporate communications for Trulieve. “As is the case with the Fort Myers location, they are typically freestanding with plenty of parking and are easy to enter onto the main road. So, for a variety of reasons, bank locations are a good match for us. However, they can be more expensive to retrofit on the inside due to the very different desired layout.”
Trulieve just celebrated the grand opening of its fourth and newest in the county off Summerlin Road. “Two years ago, we were at 300,000 patients,” said Carmen Santiago, the south regional manager for Trulieve. “Today, we’re at 700,000. We continue to grow. Wherever there’s patient demand, we’re there.”
Patients must have a medical marijuana card, obtained by a licensed medical marijuana doctor, to get past Trulieve’s lobby and into its sales area.
“The energy is always high. It’s exciting for the community. I’ve had people coming by since we put the signage up 30 days ago,” said Scott Cross, manager of the Summerlin store.
Pain management, anxiety, stress, sleep disorder and chemotherapy/cancer patients top the list of reasons for people seeking marijuana as a medical treatment, Cross said.
Trulieve has 17 staff members, and Cross expects to grow to 20 to 25 as the business continues to grow. Products on hand include whole flowers, ground flowers, vape cartridges and 10 types of concentrates.
Just three miles away, M.U.V., a competitor to Trulieve, is planning its fifth Southwest Florida location to open this summer at 7010 Cypress Terrace off U.S. 41 with the former Chase Bank branch selling for $2.5 million in December. Gary Tasman, CEO of Cushman & Wakefield in Southwest Florida, brokered that deal.
“The bigger trend is banks don’t need as many branches as they have had,” Tasman said. “A fair number of them get sold into the market for different uses. Bank branches repurpose very easily into marijuana dispensaries. Insurance, real estate and dental offices are in them also.”
M.U.V. is owned by Chicago-based Verano and operates in 13 states with 95 dispensaries and 12 growing facilities, said Steve Mazeika, director of communications for Verano. Like Trulieve, M.U.V. seeks easily accessible locations in busy retail corridors, he explained.
