The Green Rush In Northern California, Epic April Fools and What to Listen to this Spring.

 Since its inception in 2016, Proposition 64 has successfully done that thing. You know, that thing where the state legalizes a drug and suddenly its responsible for billions of dollars of legal revenue. Its proof in the pudding, of a long-discussed conversation about what happens when we legalize a drug, take that money off the black market, and put it into our local economy. 

One of the many ways its currently effecting the Northern California economy is commercial real estate, and that landscape change has cultural ripple effects. In the early 2000s, before Prop 26 was passed, the Bay Area was home to countless warehouses packed with unconventional tenants, operating performance spaces.. Folks who paid very little rent, and financed their rag tag dwelling units by charging admission for underground shows. One of the interesting and perhaps unforeseen byproducts of the marijuana industry gaining popularity, is the gradual decline of warehouse show venues. It’s a logical move away from landlords tolerating taking what they can get, to moving on to greener pastures. 

Warehouse space, which was once abundant and challenging to fill with renters, is a sought-after commodity in this the age of lucrative dispensary and grow operations. Maybe there’s a tradeoff, if the punk rockers cannot afford to compete with the weed industry, at least they stand a chance at gainful employment in the field.

This time is after all, being deemed the second wave of the Green Rush.

The trickle started slow, but these days you can't go hardly anywhere in the East Bay and not be a stones throw from a dispensary. While it's understandable for commercial building owners to be hesitant about locking down a contract with a business that’s illegal still at the federal level, signing on with a business who is not wheezing that death rattle last breath, or teetering daily on the edge of folding, sounds pretty darn appealing. The pandemic left so many commercial landlords with space they couldn't fill. Large restaurants and gyms closed nationwide, leaving all those rental properties sitting empty.

You know what people did when they couldn't go out to eat for fun or attend their weekly Zumba class? How people combated the stress and fear of the uncertain, and tolerated the loneliness of isolation(or being trapped inside with your family)?  They smoked weed. So while so many franchises right down to mom and pop operations that previously occupied those large building spaces had to close shop, the marijuana industry is flying high, and brining commercial property value up right along with it.