A 10,000 square-foot greenhouse is the first facility for California Cannabis Co. in Lemoore. But more growth is in the pipeline. Photo by Frank Lopez

The City of Lemoore celebrated the opening of a brand new cannabis processing and distribution facility Monday morning.

City leaders, members of the community and the press were invited to a ribbon cutting ceremony for the official grand opening of California Cannabis Co.’s new facility in Lemoore near Highway 198 and Highway 41.

California Cannabis Co. has a delivery coverage area of Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties. It launched its delivery operations in October and is already utilizing a greenhouse at the facility.

Lemoore City Manager Nathan Olson was instrumental in helping bring cannabis to Lemoore and said that the process started in 2018 when he and other leaders went on a trip to check out one of the company’s greenhouses in Paso Robles. The partnership with the city and California Cannabis Co. was born.

“I’m proud of our council to share the dream and vision to know that we can bring what is a natural crop here to Lemoore and get on the forefront to make it profitable and make a long term relationship between the city and our cannabis partners,” Olson said.

Dave Mock, a member of the leadership team at California Cannabis Co., said that Lemoore was very helpful in opening the economy to cannabis.

“The biggest winners are the residents of Lemoore. We are going to hire residents from Lemoore and generate higher tax revenues. What a better place to be than to create this kind of campus in the Central Valley, the home of ag,” Mock said.

The first greenhouse currently up and running covers about 10,000 square feet and is cropped with 2,400 plants. Those plants will be ready for harvest in August.

The second greenhouse will be completed June 30, and the third about one month after that.

In October, construction will begin on another 40,000 square feet of space.

There are also six acres across the street of the cul-de-sac of the facility that could be developed in the future.

The second and third phases will include a buildout capacity up to 500,000 square feet of greenhouse, onsite processing for cultivation operations and an onsite nursery. In 2022, construction for 25,000 square feet for manufacturing will begin.

The facility will also have an event center near the front of the property, designed in the style of Gazebo Gardens in Fresno.

By the end of 2021, the facility should be running with about 25 employees, and to around 50 to 100 employees at full buildout.