The cultivation manufacturing center opened in January, the result of an eight-year search to find a location and a yearlong build-out. Less than half of the 65K SF space has been completed, and the full build-out is projected to total $20M.

“We’ve been a long time in the making for this, and we’re hoping it all pays off,” said AltSol owner Matt Lawson-Baker, standing just inside the chain-link fence that guards the facility

The warehouse is one of just eight cultivation centers in the city, supplying the 67 open regulated retailers and nine processing facilities in D.C.’s newly expanded cannabis market.

D.C. opened up its cannabis market in 2023, allowing residents and visitors to self-certify for medical licenses, a move that has led the number of registered patients to more than quadruple over the last three years. At the same time, the city lifted the limits on cultivators, manufacturers and retailers, ushering in an era of a vastly expanded regulated market.

In this new landscape, all cannabis sold in D.C. must also be grown and processed in the city, meaning local retailers are dependent on the city’s ability to house enough cultivators and manufacturers.

And as more cannabis shops open, there is growing concern about the ability of D.C.’s small industrial footprint to support the expanding market.

A city spokesperson tells Bisnow another 340 retail cannabis businesses and 51 manufacturing businesses — where grown plants are processed into sellable products — have received conditional approval and are looking for real estate.

“That was always something that they talked about when we actually made the transition,” said Lisa Scott, the founding board member of the District of Columbia Cannabis Business Association. “They were worried there wouldn’t be enough supply for the demand, and that’s actually sort of what’s happening right now.”

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