Oakland Commercial Real Estate and the Cannabis Green Zone.

So, over the last couple weeks we have mused about Oaklands warehouse scene. We talked about its impact on the underground art culture and music subcultures of Oakland. We talked about unsafe living conditions leading to tragedy, and the way that zoning warehouses residential and building them out can revitalize forgotten neighborhoods. 
This week, not entirely unrelated, we are looking at Oaklands green zones, and cannabis grow real estate. 

Firstly, what exactly is a Green Zone? 
In California, state and local regulations strictly control where cannabis businesses can operate. Green zones are specific areas where Cannabis businesses are allowed to establish and function. 
Green zone real estate has got to fall-in line with both city and state, and county zone to legally operate. There are places sited as “sensitive use areas” like schools, parks and youth centers. Green zone real estate cannot be anywhere near the sensitive use. 
There are over 500 local governments in the state of California, and each set its own rules and regulations around green zone businesses. When you picture parts of California and the different cultures and scenes that exist in specific towns and counties, it’s easy to think of places that are very chill with their local regulations. Chill enough to make it possible that tons of their local economy are based on cannabis business. There are also counties that are so strict, far beyond state regulations, that most green zone applications end in denials. It’s a big state, with a big range of local attitudes about and perspectives on growing, selling and using weed. 
So, depending on where you live, there may be green zone real estate all over your county. Or there might be a real up hill and extensive permitting process in front of you if your goal is to get a building zone green. The business of cannabis is popular enough in the state of California, there are real estate groups and lawyers who do exist to serve in this very specific vein. If you were to search online, there are lots of websites available that cover the whole state, featuring specifically green zones listings to peruse. Even if you have no intention to buy, and no weed business, these listings are fascinating to scroll through. They run the gamut from what we mostly picture, the built out industrial looking warehouse, to beautiful old homes, and even strip malls. Being compliant can encompass a variety of building types, sizes and scales, and it is so interesting to see what people have come up with. 

Okay but back to Oakland specifically now. 

Oakland has a big green zone. All along the water, in what is highly industrial, Oakland is zoned green. Up into a huge percentage of downtown and surrounding areas, Oakland is zoned green. With big off shoots up into Emeryville, and all the way over to the borders of both sides of the city, there is a heck of a lot of green zones. Most all Oaklands lucrative manufacturing zone is green. This tracks for Oakland, culturally and based off its industrial and manufacturing foundation. Historically Oakland has had deep roots in a robust manufacturing sector. Weed might fall into a slightly different category than what manufacturing encompassed in the past, but it is a business of production not the least. In Oakland, cannabis cultivation and production has had an impact on the commercial real estate scene. Oakland is one of the few places in California where all stages of the weed business are permitted. Meaning, from production, to cultivation to processing and sales. Folks are allowed to do it all here, in the same location from start to finish. 
In years roughly 2017, to maybe 2021 or 2022, cannabis businesses were booming so hardcore they were blowing out the commercial real estate market. Rolling in with deep pockets, buying green zone real estate at a premium, and driving up everything around them. Weed industry boom blew up the Oakland industrial market landscape. In 2017, lease rates and sales prices tripled in 12 months. Other forms of local industry struggled to keep up. 

Local perspectives on the dynamic were fractured. Residents welcome local income and business and also questioned environmental impact and social outcomes of the weed industry. 
There was no alternative district for Oakland manufacturers in the city, and the sector is big, Ike over 10,000 local jobs. So, the weed guys moving in and buying it up was a problem. A problem that kind of accidentally fixed itself over time. The federal government seized an opportunity to profit from a business that really took off, and they enforced some more expensive permitting. 
These days, we all know that boom has chilled out. The weed market hit a saturation phase in Oakland in terms of both market and property expansion. Federal regulations cooled the weed industry jets, and the threat of shut down due to noncompliance really elevated in a impactful way. 

The weed industry coexists better with Oaklands local businesses now, helping bring around the money for Oaklands small businesses to stay local and not be driven out. Their huge money hay day has passed and has allowed a more humbled acquisition process that doesn’t drive up the cost or bogart manufacturing zones. 
Oakland residents and business owners still have questions and qualms, often about environmental impact and regulations around cultivation and weed production on scale. There are often inquiries brought to light about labor practices in the production of large-scale weed grown. But as Oakland has settled into legal weed businesses, these things are readily addressed and zoning, labor and environmental laws are enforced. 

The market for cannabis flooding means different things to different people, it has undeniably shuttered the black market, and making legal affordable purchase available has chilled the troubles Involved with shady cartel weed madness. Now cannabis brings in much more above ground money, which is good for Oakland.