By Lester Black | SFGATE
An abandoned outlet mall could soon be a new 29-acre “cannabis super center” in the middle of California’s Mojave Desert.
The Barstow City Council voted 3-1 to approve the project at a contentious Dec. 21 meeting that lasted nearly five hours. The development needs to earn a second council vote next month before it is fully approved.
The new development sits along one of California’s busiest traffic corridors, located about halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. A cannabis real estate firm was marketing the “cannabis super center” as “the most unique green zone property in the entire country” earlier last year, according to Victorville’s Daily Press newspaper.
The location is a former outlet mall that has sat vacant for nearly two decades, but a new developer has already broken ground on retrofitting the mall’s 24 different buildings into legal pot businesses. Initial plans include licensing for 20 different pot farms, six cannabis distributors, five cannabis manufacturers and two retail dispensaries, according to a Barstow City Council agenda (some businesses would perform multiple functions).
