Tower Commercial Real Estate seniormanaging director Scott Allen and senior director Rob Foster areleading the new cannabis division.

MIAMI—Prompted by strong cannabis-related retail and industrialdeals in Florida, locally-based commercial brokerage firm TowerCommercial Real Estate has formed a new cannabis division withinits tenant representation platform.

Tower CRE states that the launch of the new division wasprompted by closing $50 million in cannabis-related retail andindustrial transactions in the last 18 months with an additional$15 million in the pipeline that are expected to close by the endof this year.

The new cannabis division—being led by Tower CRE's Seniormanaging director Scott Allen and senior director Rob Foster—istackling every issue surrounding the cannabis real estate sectorand navigating through the many barriers to entry faced by thecannabis sector, including a rigorous due-diligence process;in-depth understanding of zoning codes; municipal regulations,restrictions and processes; competitive landscape; marketknowledge; legal review; and financing challenges.

Although it is being challenged, the State of Florida requiresthat cannabis companies be vertically integrated. Therefore, acompany must be the cultivator, the processor and the point ofdispensing, Tower CE officials state.

The firm is providing solutions for retail dispensaryoperations, industrial distribution centers, and cultivationcenters, which include agricultural land, greenhouse and industrialspace. The Tower CRE cannabis division works with specializedattorneys and project management teams to move each requirementthrough its development process.

In the past 18 months, Tower CRE has successfully closedtransactions for 35 dispensaries throughout Florida. Among them areeight Liberty Health Sciences dispensaries, 14 Verano Holdingsdispensaries, and 13 3 Boys Farms dispensaries.

Tower CRE has 12 more dispensaries in process throughout Floridaand has established itself as the leading third-party real estateteam for the cannabis sector within the state.

“Working with cannabis companies requires a different level ofservice, attention and an immense amount of time,” Foster says.“Through experiencing the pitfalls early on in our tenure, we havebeen able create and implement a process that is efficient andeffective. We have a full team that navigates through eachrequirement from the infancy phase to move-in.”

He adds, “The number of transactions we have completed to datehas allowed us to hone in on a precise formula to uncover newopportunities, and we have found tremendous success leading rapidexpansionary efforts for our clients.”

Allen and Foster state that Florida has one of the bestdemographic scenarios for cannabis deals, as Florida has one of thefastest-growing medical marijuana programs in the nation. As of May2, more than 213,000 people are enrolled, with 10,000-plus signingup every month.

Florida also has a large senior population, which is a majorfocus of license holders. In addition, not only does Floridarequire a cannabis company to be a complete vertical, but onelicense will allow them to open dispensaries throughout the state,which is very different than any other state, they note.

“With so many factors on our side, we foresee continuedexponential growth and due to our notable successes and upcomingactivity, we felt the time was right to officially launch thisdivision,” Allen says.