On the eve of a vote that could legalize recreational marijuana in Massachusetts, a Colorado company is preparing to build the state’s largest marijuana greenhouse, a sprawling, high-tech complex that could eventually expand to nearly 1 million square feet.
Denver-based AmeriCann Inc. completed a deal last week to lease a 53-acre parcel for the project near Route 24 in Freetown, where officials have welcomed the company’s proposed Massachusetts Medical Cannabis Center as a potential economic boon.
The facility, to be built in phases over several years, is designed to bolster the state’s struggling medical marijuana program. But if voters here decide on Nov. 8 to legalize the sale of marijuana for recreational use by adults, AmeriCann expects to accelerate construction and would likely rent some of its cultivation space to a retailer of recreational cannabis.
“Adult-use changes the timeline of the project,” AmeriCann chief executive Tim Keogh said. “It’s definitely part of the conversation with investors now, more so than it had been 12 or 24 months ago.”
