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Medical cannabis provider Cannabist is planning to sell its local facilities to Curaleaf, including the dispensary in Carytown. (BizSense file)
The Richmond area’s medical marijuana dispensaries are changing hands.
Connecticut-based Curaleaf plans to buy the four local retail dispensaries and large cultivation facility owned by The Cannabist Co. in a $110 million deal announced this week. The purchase is expected to close in early 2026.
Curaleaf would be the third operator of the state-sanctioned medical cannabis dispensaries in Health Service Area 4, which covers the Richmond and Petersburg areas.
The transaction includes four freestanding dispensaries that operate under the Cannabist and gLeaf brands in Short Pump, Carytown, Colonial Heights and eastern Henrico, as well as an 82,000-square-foot growing and production facility near Manchester in South Richmond. That facility also houses a dispensary.
Curaleaf would be able to open one more local store, and that dispensary is “in development,” according to a news release. Each state-issued license associated with Virginia’s five health service areas allows operators to open up to six dispensaries and a cultivation facility. Only registered patients in the state’s medical program are able to buy products from the dispensaries.
Cannabist, formerly known as Columbia Care, entered the local market with the June 2021 acquisition of competing firm Green Leaf Medical (stylized “gLeaf”) in a $240 million deal that included Green Leaf’s operations in Virginia and other states. Green Leaf originally secured the license to operate in the local health service area in 2018.
Curaleaf would pay Cannabist $80 million in cash when the deal closes, as well as $20 million cash in deferred consideration in addition to a $10 million promissory note.
The deal is subject to a go-shop period that ends Dec. 22, which allows Cannabist to seek out and potentially accept a new offer to buy its local facilities.
If Cannabist accepts a new offer, or if the company fails to get noteholders’ consent for the deal, Curaleaf would be paid a $3.3 million break-up fee and associated expenses up to $350,000.
The sale comes as Massachusetts-based Cannabist is underway on a strategic review of its operations, in light of difficulties it and the overall industry are facing.
“The review is being conducted in consideration of the ongoing operational and financial challenges for the company and the industry, as well as of the continuing uncertainty as to if and when U.S. federal regulatory changes may occur,” a Cannabist news release stated. “The transaction forms part of this strategic review.”
The pending Curaleaf deal is not the first time Cannabist has attempted to sell its local operations. The company had a deal in the works to be sold to Chicago-based Cresco Labs, but the transaction fell apart in 2023 and never materialized.
Cannabist says it has 61 dispensaries and 16 cultivation and manufacturing facilities open or in development in 12 states.
Curaleaf says it has a presence in 17 states with more than 150 dispensaries and 19 cultivation facilities. The Cannabist deal would mark its entry into the Virginia market. The publicly traded company reported net revenue of $944.8 million during the nine-month period that ended Sept. 30.
Curaleaf declined to make a company representative available for an interview for this article. Cannabist didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The pending deal is also taking shape as Virginia lawmakers and local business owners eye the potential launch of a recreational marijuana market.
A General Assembly commission established to oversee the creation of the market started to hold meetings this summer. The group is studying the topic and hearing from policy experts to help craft what could be the end of a multiyear streak of failed bills aimed at kicking off the retail pot market.
Earlier this week, the group revealed a draft proposal that would prevent individual localities from opting out of recreational pot sales and favor smaller companies over national firms, the Virginia Mercury reported.
While recreational use and possession of marijuana was legalized in 2021, it remains illegal to sell recreational pot in Virginia.
Medical cannabis provider Cannabist is planning to sell its local facilities to Curaleaf, including the dispensary in Carytown. (BizSense file)
Medical cannabis provider Cannabist is planning to sell its local facilities to Curaleaf, including the dispensary in Carytown. (BizSense file)
The Richmond area’s medical marijuana dispensaries are changing hands.
Connecticut-based Curaleaf plans to buy the four local retail dispensaries and large cultivation facility owned by The Cannabist Co. in a $110 million deal announced this week. The purchase is expected to close in early 2026.
Curaleaf would be the third operator of the state-sanctioned medical cannabis dispensaries in Health Service Area 4, which covers the Richmond and Petersburg areas.
The transaction includes four freestanding dispensaries that operate under the Cannabist and gLeaf brands in Short Pump, Carytown, Colonial Heights and eastern Henrico, as well as an 82,000-square-foot growing and production facility near Manchester in South Richmond. That facility also houses a dispensary.
Curaleaf would be able to open one more local store, and that dispensary is “in development,” according to a news release. Each state-issued license associated with Virginia’s five health service areas allows operators to open up to six dispensaries and a cultivation facility. Only registered patients in the state’s medical program are able to buy products from the dispensaries.
Cannabist, formerly known as Columbia Care, entered the local market with the June 2021 acquisition of competing firm Green Leaf Medical (stylized “gLeaf”) in a $240 million deal that included Green Leaf’s operations in Virginia and other states. Green Leaf originally secured the license to operate in the local health service area in 2018.
Curaleaf would pay Cannabist $80 million in cash when the deal closes, as well as $20 million cash in deferred consideration in addition to a $10 million promissory note.
The deal is subject to a go-shop period that ends Dec. 22, which allows Cannabist to seek out and potentially accept a new offer to buy its local facilities.
If Cannabist accepts a new offer, or if the company fails to get noteholders’ consent for the deal, Curaleaf would be paid a $3.3 million break-up fee and associated expenses up to $350,000.
The sale comes as Massachusetts-based Cannabist is underway on a strategic review of its operations, in light of difficulties it and the overall industry are facing.
“The review is being conducted in consideration of the ongoing operational and financial challenges for the company and the industry, as well as of the continuing uncertainty as to if and when U.S. federal regulatory changes may occur,” a Cannabist news release stated. “The transaction forms part of this strategic review.”
The pending Curaleaf deal is not the first time Cannabist has attempted to sell its local operations. The company had a deal in the works to be sold to Chicago-based Cresco Labs, but the transaction fell apart in 2023 and never materialized.
Cannabist says it has 61 dispensaries and 16 cultivation and manufacturing facilities open or in development in 12 states.
Curaleaf says it has a presence in 17 states with more than 150 dispensaries and 19 cultivation facilities. The Cannabist deal would mark its entry into the Virginia market. The publicly traded company reported net revenue of $944.8 million during the nine-month period that ended Sept. 30.
Curaleaf declined to make a company representative available for an interview for this article. Cannabist didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The pending deal is also taking shape as Virginia lawmakers and local business owners eye the potential launch of a recreational marijuana market.
A General Assembly commission established to oversee the creation of the market started to hold meetings this summer. The group is studying the topic and hearing from policy experts to help craft what could be the end of a multiyear streak of failed bills aimed at kicking off the retail pot market.
Earlier this week, the group revealed a draft proposal that would prevent individual localities from opting out of recreational pot sales and favor smaller companies over national firms, the Virginia Mercury reported.
While recreational use and possession of marijuana was legalized in 2021, it remains illegal to sell recreational pot in Virginia.
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Jack joined BizSense in 2020. He covers local government, retail, healthcare and higher education news. He previously reported for the Virginia Gazette and Tidewater Review after graduating from Christopher Newport University. Reach him at jack@richmondbizsense.com or 804-554-6545.
Champagne
Get ready to smell pot smoke everywhere you go later this year in VA…
If you can’t already, you might need to see a doctor about your sense of smell.
Nothing better than biking through the fan, passing a contractor’s truck with a “licensed and insured” mention on the back and a waft of skunk weed coming out the driver’s side window. :/
Hey, if you want to pay double for that work you are getting done on your house just to avoid that, go for it!
Gummies brah
Great, easy access to edible marijuana. Just what the average Virginian needs
it already exists, friend, for folks who have a medical license.
has nothing to do with this article which is about the sale of the medical dispensaries that have existed for several years … but sure.
So the group feels that small business can work in an environment that national companies cannot? The articles always seem to mention that the sale of recreational pot, even if the new GA approves it, still remain a federal crime even for medical exemptions. And hence why they are doing this transaction. We need federal reform and allowance for pot sales under a federally regulated agency (like FDA).
We must keep the proles anesthetized lest they start feeling the pain from perpetual winning.
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