HEBER — California development firm Shasta Management announced it will open a new cannabis campus along Yourman Road at the intersection of Highway 111 and Heber Road during the 2021 summer in a press release.
Shasta Management previously purchased a long-term lease of 100 acres of mixed-use space in Imperial County to build a massive cannabis campus which will contain a 9,000 square foot retail center and a 2,000 square foot retail dispensary, according to Shasta.
The center will also include a 5,000 square foot adult-only consumption lounge with high-end glass shop, vibe centers, and lounge areas that feature 85-inch televisions and gaming stations. Shasta Management CEO Tim Wright said the first phase of opening will include two retail stores, the Shasta-owned Queen of Dragons and The Other Guys and will eventually include a restaurant.
“You’ll be able to come in and try and out try pre-rolls, you’ll be able to come in and try the concentrates, we’ll always have an educational experience,” said Wright about the upcoming cannabis campus.
Wright modeled the cannabis campus project off of the winery tasting industry and said that he envisions it to become a new destination place in the Imperial Valley.
“When you have a consolidation of wineries and tasting rooms you have traffic, you have volume, there’s an experience,” he said. “With having a lot of activities and a lot of experiences, there’s a destination to be had in that location, we feel that it’s destination centric,” said Wright.
Wright said he previously purchased 176 acres from the City of Shasta Lake for his original campus located near the first Queen of Dragons store. Wright credited a collaborating consultant, the former mayor of Santa Ana and member of the Shasta Management team, Miguel Pulido, for selecting Imperial County as the location for the next cannabis campus.
“We feel very confident in the fact that our proximity to (Highway) 111 … with the numbers that we see at the AMPM that anchors the corner of the building, I think they see 700 to 1,000 people a day and then we love the fact that there’s a million-and-a-half folks next door in Mexicali and about 300,000 of them come across on a daily basis to work in California,” said Wright.
Shasta Development said they worked with Imperial County to modify the existing tax structure and make it more competitive for cannabis operators. Shasta also worked with the Imperial Irrigation District to install meters and transformers and increase the capacity of water intake and received a resolution from the Heber Public Utility District to obtain access to water.
Wright said the community and the Imperial County Board of Supervisors have been very supportive and welcoming and is grateful they found the County of Imperial and the town of Heber.
“We are so excited to come down and be members of that community and participate in that community and do everything that we can to show what great neighbors we are in terms of cannabis operators,” said Wright.