Medical marijuana creating a demand for real estate in Watsonville

“Just trying to as cultivators come out of the darkness and into the light,” said Watsonville resident Nick Bryan.

Bryan is one of many applying to cultivate medical marijuana in Watsonville.

The city recently passed an ordinance allowing grows in industrial areas of town.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Bryan. “There’s a small area in the industrial zoning that they opened it up to start out with.”

But he is not the only entrepreneur on the hunt for space to grow the herb.

“It’s a whole new demand within our market,” said Keller Williams real estate agent Chuck Allen.

Allen said he’s been getting calls from people as far away asChina interested in growing medical marijuana in Watsonville.

“The challenge that each person in the industrial brokerage business has is finding the inventory to present to the prospects,” said Allen.

But it’s more than just the ordinance that’s getting attention from growers and investors.

Watsonville’s weather conditions and inexpensive real estate are also increasing demand.

“Quite a few, overwhelming, for our planning department, the number of applications that we’re receiving and inquiries too,” said Watsonville Mayor Felipe Hernandez.

Mayor Hernandez said all the interest, the city is creating a committee to oversee the process with the potential for a big economic impact on the city.

“This is going to be all infield development,” said Hernandez. “It’s a way to create sales tax for the city that it desperately needs.”

Watsonville said soon it’ll start looking at applications from those interested in growing medical marijuana.