In November
2013, I had the occasion to visit Charlotte, NC and Denver in the same week
and, despite a hectic schedule, managed to “weed out” some intriguing facts.
Charlotte, home
of many of the “too large to fail” banks, works hard to appear conspicuously
prosperous with a downtown of new gleaming skyscrapers; whereas Denver, the
second-fastest-growing city in the U.S. and home to the “real economy,” is
seeing a renaissance in redeveloped industrial buildings turned into mixed-use
creative space, high-tech business incubators, and farmers’ markets housing
young and middle-aged entrepreneurs. Industrial neighborhoods ringing the downtown
core are rapidly filling in with modern, industrial-style lofts and
condominiums. Over the last several decades,
the urban renaissance, triggered in both cities by the construction of a
baseball stadium and other sports venues downtown, has especially changed the
face of Denver, which is younger, grittier and more ecologically oriented than both
Charlotte and Calgary, the Colorado city’s cousin to the north. Denver developers are shunning open parking
lots in the downtown core for the hipper urban fringes where X, Y and boomer
generations can co-exist more casually in modern and repurposed mid-density,
mixed-use and transit served urban neighborhoods.
I was in
Denver for its annual Real Estate Expo, this year co-sponsored by Avison Young
and the University of Denver. Times are
good in Denver. A shallow housing
recession, combined with an energy boom and high-tech surge, are fuelling
growth – thanks in large part to Denver being home to the nation’s youngest,
and one of its best educated, workforces.
What a surprise it was to learn that,
with all of that going on, the fastest-growing industry in Colorado is, in fact,
marijuana cultivation. This industry has leased 3 million square
feet of previously functionally obsolete space in the last nine months in the Greater
Denver Area. Colorado, like North
Carolina, passed from a red state to a blue state in 2012. At the same time, Colorado and Washington
became the first states to legalize recreational use of the drug – possession
of which is still a criminal offense under federal law. In a
deal between the federal and state governments, growing and distribution in
states where it is legal is done under state supervision and licensing – hence
the mini-real estate boom.
After
researching the topic since returning to Canada, I have learned that Colorado
has plenty of company. Twenty U.S.
states and the District of Columbia have either decriminalized possession of
small quantities, or legalized medical use, or both. As a result, marijuana is now the fastest-growing
industry in America (eclipsing even smartphone technology applications) – and forecasted
to grow 68% from $1.4 to $2.3 billion in
2014.
According to
recent Gallop and ABC polls, more than half of Americans now favor
decriminalizing marijuana. http://news.yahoo.com/first-time-most-americans-favor-legalizing-marijuana-poll-222023157--sector.html.
According to
the Globe and Mail, a majority of
Canadians feel the same way. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/majority-of-canadians-want-to-loosen-marijuana-laws-polls/article14010389/.
Uruguay may
soon become the first country to officially legalize the drug. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/uruguay-one-step-closer-to-national-marijuana-market/article15860115/
Which states
have legalized medical use and/or decriminalized possession of small quantities
might surprise you. Some are obvious, like California, New York
and Massachusetts, but some surprisingly conservative places like Nebraska,
Arizona, Alaska, Montana, Mississippi, and, yes, even North Carolina have
changed their laws in recent years. To see the status by state, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_the_United_States. Experts believe that marijuana could be
legal in more than 20 states by 2018, fueling growth in sales to an estimated
$10.4 billion in that time frame.
In Colorado and
Washington, the voters also elected to tax marijuana at the 25% level. (Denver is putting another 5% surcharge on
top of that.) If the forecasted sales growth
unfolds as anticipated, and local and state governments succeed in garnering such
significant levels of taxation, we may well find increasingly favorable
reception for such previously controversial initiatives. Imagine the prospect of additional billions
of dollars to invest in schools, municipal services and infrastructure, perhaps
ensuring these locations stay at the top of the economic growth trajectory.
Now, that’s
a Rocky Mountain high.
