People in real estate met with influencers in another big Las Vegas business, medical marijuana.
A new relationship is growing between the two industries.
Medical marijuana is legal in Nevada. As the business grows, owners are looking for places to set up shop, and real estate agents are taking notice.
"We're seeing 281 applications in Southern Nevada. 92 are open right now," said John Laub, of the Las Vegas Medical Marijuana Association. "That's a lot of space, that's a lot of strip malls, that's a lot of redevelopment in this area."
However, marijuana (medical or recreational) is still federally illegal in our state.
"The first challenge is there's really no banking," said Laub. "It also makes it tough for the landlords. They want to make sure that they don't have any federal requirements, and so everything has to be kind of rewritten for our state and local requirements."
The legality even comes into play during construction.
"Once they start selling it, the cash is the biggest problem," said Robert Potter, President of Affordable Concepts and construction expert. "They can't get financing, and they can't use banks, so it becomes a very risky situation. In terms of the security issue and building these facilities, security is a high issue."
