Birmingham-based Future Grow Solutions has opened a facility in Center Line where it will grow and process cannabis products from seedlings all the way to products for retail sale.
Located in the former Charter Steel facility, Mark Savaya, CEO, has renovated the space into a cannabis complex, operating with Center Line Group One and Nate Group. The 40,000-square-foot complex will hold marijuana growing, production, and provisioning in one area. Future Grow Solutions has a 100,000-square-foot cannabis complex in Detroit.
Savaya purchased the complex in 2019 and plans to invest $7-8 million in building upgrades, safety and security, and production equipment. Upgrades are expected to be complete at the end of January 2021 with the first harvest expected for the end of May 2021.
The majority of the investment was in the initial production, cultivation, and production equipment. Future Grow Solutions is the exclusive Michigan distributor of the CropTower System, a vertically integrated growing system that produces extremely high yields using recycled, filtered water and LED lighting. Each tower can hold 102 plants in a nine-foot-by-nine-foot area and can harvest 120 pounds of marijuana annually. Savaya anticipates having 9,000 plants in continual harvest at the facility.
“The city of Center Line has worked for over three years to create opportunities for the medical marijuana industry,” says Dennis Champine, city manager/city clerk for the city of Center Line. “The city has developed reasonable guidelines for potential medical marijuana businesses. The application and approval process for MMFL permits is seamless, fair, and unbiased. We welcome Future Grow Solutions to the community and are appreciative of their investment.”
Savaya expects the facility will bring more than 80 jobs and nearly $500,000 in taxes and licenses to the city of Center Line. Of that, nearly $10,000 is for administrative, inspection, and enforcement fees. Savaya anticipates Center line Group One and Nate Group will pay an average $1 million in taxes to the state of Michigan annually.
Future Grow Solutions will lease and sell supplies and provide staffing and other business necessities to cannabis growers, cultivators, and investors. The products produced using the system will be sold under the brand Leaf and Bud. The company expects to open eight Leaf and Bud provisioning centers.
The company also works to assist others interested in getting involved in the cannabis industry, offering tools, expertise, financing, security, access to testing facilities, and help with state and local approvals as well as staffing.
“The marijuana business can be very complex and challenging,” Savaya says. “With the experience and knowledge our team has acquired, we provide the best consultation and resources to future marijuana business and investors.”
Future Grow Solutions’ growing methods using the CropTower System can also benefit other agricultural sectors.
“In a traditional growing operation — using dirt, buckets and platforms — the process uses an enormous amount of space, power, and water for a successful crop,” Savaya says. “Future Grow Solutions’ system is completely different. We’re growing green in a whole new way. The technology that we are employing is truly state-of-the-art, economical, and environmentally friendly.”
