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Lights have been out at One Gro Investment Group’s building at 285 E. Oregon Ave. for a couple months, but One Gro Chief Executive Officer Dan Isaacson said that plans are still underway for the Creswell CBD dispensary.
Last November, Creswell voters, by a margin of nearly 85 percent to 15 percent, swatted down One Gro’s proposal to allow marijuana sales and distribution in Creswell. Despite the lopsided loss, the investments group said out of the gate that they always had options for either outcome, having signed up for a five-year lease with their building.
If they won, they’d run with the THC dispensary in Creswell; if they lost, they’d run with the CBD dispensary in Creswell. The loss outcome plan – to make Creswell the hub for CBD sales in Oregon – is still moving forward, Isaacson said.
The plan was to close the doors to renovate and transform One Gro’s NakD Bean coffee shop to also include a CBD dispensary. They planned for a reveal in the first quarter of the new year – between January and March, according to Chronicle archives.
But Isaacson said the plans have since changed and the reveal is now eyed for somewhere between March and May 2018.
As for a reason for the delay, Isaacson said their group thought it’d be good idea to put some time between the opening of the CBD dispensary and the November 2017 election, given all the hubbub that surrounded the election. He said he still frequents Creswell and looks forward to creating organic relationships with the community, post-election.
Initially, the plan was to convert the building to two stories, but One Gro has decided to hold off until there is a greater need for the second-story addition, Isaacson said.
The front of the building, depending on budgeting, will receive a ”modern, tasteful and inviting” renovation, Isaacson said. The back office rooms will be converted and changed up, adding two additional offices for a grand total of seven offices, as well as conversion of their conference room.
He said the Creswell CBD dispensary doesn’t have a name, and will be more ”removed and sterile” compared to their THC dispensary, Cannistry, at 86305 College View Road in Eugene.
Their new invention, a THC extract inhaler, has taken off since its launch in late 2017. Isaacson said that it took five months for the competition in Colorado to do what One Gro did with their product in 10 days. They’ve hosted 15 events around the state to promote their inhaler, which is currently available in 91 dispensaries, and is expected to be in 200 stores by the end of next year, Isaacson said.
”We have already added five additional new versions of the inhaler to meet customer feedback we received,” Isaacson said.
As for other new developments with One Gro this year, Isaacson said the company will be expanding their operations from 50,000 plants in 2017 to to 65,000 plants in 2018.
”We will (also) be adding a neighborhood alert program for our farms, where delivery schedules and upcoming events are posted,” Isaacson said. This gives ”local folks the ability to know and plan with us. Additionally, lavender and lilac planting along the perimeter of the farm should go far to mitigate farm odors.”
ELECTION BILL
Last year, Isaacson pledged that One Gro would pay up to $5,000 towards the cost of the election if they lost.
It was just last week that The City of Creswell received the bill for the November election, and City Administrator Michelle Amberg said the City is now going through the process. The bill amount is for $2,619.04, she said.
How it works is, ”the City will pay the County for the election and then seek reimbursement from One Gro,” Amberg said. She said the City’s check to the County was cut last week.
Isaacson said One Gro still plans on paying for the cost of the election and that once he receives the bill, he will pay it.
More to come on these developments this year.
