Before location rules for medical marijuana businesses existed in Denver, dispensary and cultivation owners struggled to find property owners who would lease space to federally illegal enterprises. Many of these businesses found homes in industrial areas on the fringes of the city before eventually converting to recreational production and sales, as well.
Neighborhoods in the northern and southern edges of Denver still have the highest concentration of cannabis businesses, the city’s report shows, with Northeast Park Hill (33), Montbello (32), Elyria-Swansea (31), Overland (21) and College View-South Platte (18) topping the list. According to Excise and Licenses, there are around 250 marijuana growing facilities in Denver overall. Because of the concentration of marijuana businesses, the city is no longer allowing new marijuana cultivations to open in these five neighborhoods.
Medical marijuana’s early days created concentrations of dispensaries in nearby areas, as well, with the most well-known being a stretch of South Broadway nicknamed the Green Mile. The Green Mile’s neighborhood, Overland, currently has fourteen dispensaries, according to the city report, followed by Northeast Park Hill at eleven stores, and then Baker, Elyria-Swansea, Five Points and Valverde, all of which have ten dispensaries.
All six…
