Innovative Industrial Properties (NYSE:IIPR) and Cresco Labs (OTC:CRLBF) have entered into the latest in a series of partnerships. The former, a specialty real estate investment trust, announced that it has bought a property in Michigan and Cresco has signed a lease agreement for it.
This item of real estate is an industrial property comprising an aggregate 115,000 square feet. Innovative did not specify where it is located. The company paid $5.0 million for it, exclusive of transaction costs. It then entered into a triple-net lease agreement with Cresco, which is to utilize the facility for the cultivation and processing of cannabis product. Innovative will reimburse Cresco up to $11 million for improvements to the property.
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This is the fourth such arrangement between Innovative and Cresco. They have agreed on similar lease transactions for properties in Ohio, and in Cresco's home state of Illinois.
Michigan and Illinois are among the 11 U.S. states that have legalized both recreational and medical marijuana. The sanctioning of recreational cannabis occurred relatively recently in both cases; this kicked into law late last year for Michigan, and in January in Illinois.
With the purchase of the new Michigan real estate, Innovative's property count now stands at 55. All told, these locations comprise around 4.1 million rentable square feet. They are located in 15 states, including other geographies that have legalized both forms of the drug such as California, Nevada, and Massachusetts.
Both marijuana stocks rose on Wednesday, with Cresco Labs' beating the gains of the overall equities market and Innovative's trailing behind them. The former stock advanced by 4.8% on the day, and the latter by just under 0.5%.
