Pubdate: Sat, 15 Nov 2014
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2014 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Megan Mitchell, YourHub Reporter

FULL POT-ENTIAL

Aurora Biz Owners Invest in Community While Opening Shop

Business owners who won licenses in August to open one of 21 
marijuana businesses in Aurora are doing more than opening the doors 
to one store - they are revamping rundown retail centers and 
rehabbing long-vacant strip malls.

Retail marijuana store owners "seem to be very eager to do what they 
can for these areas, which is nice," said Robin Peterson, manager of 
the Aurora Marijuana Enforcement Division.

Tim Cullen owns Colorado Harvest Company, which will open two 
locations in the city next year. One is at a rundown strip mall at 
11002 E. Yale Ave. and the other is on a vacant lot in southeast 
Aurora at 14655 E. Arapahoe Road.

Cullen is set to close on ownership of the Yale Avenue property at 
the end of the month and then he said he'll begin a complete remodel 
of the site. That store should be open in January.

"We bought the whole building and we'll make it all beautiful," 
Cullen said."There are three other units that we intend to lease out, 
but no one is going to lease them in the shape that the building is 
in now. It will be as nice, if not nicer, than anything that surrounds it."

The property has been in disrepair for a number of years, and 
neighbors of the adjacent Shores community have complained about code 
violations with the fence and landscape.

Cullen has agreed to repair the crumbling fence posts that abut the 
Shores' residence line.

"That's exciting news," said Bob Brown, president of the Shores 
Homeowner's Association. "The fence is falling apart, there are 
patches all along it, and some of the posts are still leaning and it 
just looks awful. I've complained to the city for a while now."

It isn't just the Yale property. Many of the approved locations where 
marijuana shop owners have been cleared to lease are in places where 
maintenance and updates have fallen off for several years.

"Some of the areas that were available could have been vacant for a 
while, and they're not the most primo places," said Peterson."It's 
just because that's where they could get someone to lease to them."

Pot shop proprietors have faced challenges with finding landlords 
because of the financial risks involved with leasing to an industry 
that isn't legal under federal law. Many marijuana business owners 
are simply becoming their own landlords - buying properties and then 
bringing them up to code.

"If you're a marijuana entity and you lease from someone who has debt 
on their building, that debt can be called" by the bank, Peterson 
explained. "We've seen it happen, and owners typically won't rent to 
marijuana owners because they don't want to risk that."

When marijuana businesses buy their own properties, they inherit all 
of the required code fixes that went overlooked.

Cullen will create a sidewalk on the north side of Yale Avenue that 
will also have a new retaining wall along the street. He plans to 
resurface the entire parking lot, upgrade the roof, repair cracks in 
the front of the building and repaint the whole thing. He estimates 
an investment of $400,000, plus $1 million to buy the building.

"It was the only way we could get a license there," Cullen said. 
"It's very difficult to meet all of the zoning criteria ... so 
purchasing the building outright is the easiest way for us to license it."

Brian Ruden owns Starbuds, which is undergoing final inspections at 
1408 Del Mar Parkway and is set to open Saturday, Nov. 15. Ruden also 
bought an entire strip mall. He estimates that he's spent $400,000 on 
building fixes so far, and more than $500,000 to buy the property.

"I replaced the roof of the whole building, replaced the entire 
parking lot ... put in all new landscaping, a new irrigation system, 
repainted the entire building and the list goes on and on - all 
before I even touched the interior of my unit," Ruden said. "My store 
might be the nicest store in that area now."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom