ADELANTO — A milestone for the city's medical pot enterprise, Genex Trading broke ground Thursday on a $2 million and nearly 13,000-square-foot cultivation and manufacturing facility, becoming the first such entrepreneur to move dirt with the blessing of a landmark ordinance.
David Abovian, founder and CEO of the investment company, said construction should be completed in six months. It's unclear yet what specific type of flower will be grown here. Abovian said the facility's manufacturing side could produce oils.
The facility will hire 90 percent of its up-to 30-person workforce from within Adelanto, Abovian added, and the management team will come from Los Angeles.
"It's very important to be first because a lot of people don't trust small cities," he said. "They don't think (the medical marijuana industry) is going to be happening 'cause they're like, 'Look at other cities that are thinking of doing it, they're not — they're talking about it but they're not doing it.' But this city actually did it ..."
He praised Adelanto for working with investors and for expediting permitting processes for its cultivation ordinance, which was passed in October 2015 and since revisited several times to incorporate new California laws. Then, manufacturing was drawn into the city code earlier this year and other medical pot activities like transportation, testing and dispensing have been proposed and are expected to receive the green light.
The city has approved at least 25 medical marijuana permits for businesses within Adelanto's industrial parks, where such activity is allowed, according to details released by officials early this year.
With Thursday's groundbreaking ceremony, attended by Mayor Rich Kerr, Councilman John "Bug" Woodard and Genex officials, the city walked through a threshold not many believed they would when Woodard first broached medical pot in his platform as a candidate in 2014.
But instead of a death knell, it grew into an idea championed by the majority of the Council and applauded by residents who frequented several meetings last year in which the topic dominated dialogue inside Council Chambers.
"It's literally almost the icing on the cake," Woodard said. "It's like the third layer and the icing's going to be coming down the road."
Adelanto joins others in the region who have been early to enter the industry and have capitalized on the attention, including Desert Hot Springs, Coachella and Cathedral City in the Coachella Valley. Woodard said he believed Adelanto would receive more focus as additional facilities were ready to break ground.
Calling the seemingly uphill battle "mission impossible," Woodard suggested that the nascent industry would lead to increased development in other sectors like construction, housing and retail — "a total transformation of the city." He also took a shot at nearby municipalities which have shunned medical marijuana.
"All these other cities like Apple Valley and Victorville, you can keep your backwards ways, OK?" he said. "And you can still see your stores closing down and all that, but you guys are going to watch Adelanto in the next few years, we're actually going to be bigger than you guys.
"I can see the future coming now."