The Cannabis Industry Celebrates 4/20

The origin of the cannabis industry’s “4/20 holiday” has been long-debated. After all, why 420? The theories are all over the board including the idea that 420 was used as a police radio call. But the true history and meaning for it comes from a place you could almost consider hiding in plain sight: a group of California high schoolers, known as the Waldos, who would meet up under the bleachers at 4:20 to, shall we say, imbibe in the wacky tobacky.

Of course, cannabis has come a long way since the Waldos’ regular meet-ups in the 70s. 41 states plus the District of Columbia and Guam have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use. Now more than ever, users can revel in the holiday – a far cry from hiding under bleachers.

In honor of 4/20, we are highlighting some of Epstein’s cannabis dispensary and cultivation and manufacturing facilities across the US.

Cloud 9 Dispensary - Edwardsville, IL

Midwest Real Estate selected Epstein to design a 4,800 square foot buildout of an existing 16,000 square foot single-story building for Lucky Lincoln Gaming. This expanded space will be home to Cloud 9, a new flagship cannabis dispensary in Edwardsville, Illinois.

Epstein was presented with somewhat of an open-ended process in that our client was in need of branding direction to match the look and feel of the space. This served as an ideal challenge starting from scratch – it was an opportunity to drive the process forward with industry knowledge combined with our client’s vision. The goal is to expand the dispensary to additional locations utilizing a modified prototype of this initial flagship store, customizing the design to fit future spaces. Epstein’s interior designers created a concept with this type of mobility in mind.

Epstein’s interiors group pulled inspiration from both the name and logo of Cloud 9 to create a clean, bright and inviting space. Atmospheric visuals of the sky, clouds and sunsets fabricate a welcome sense of calm so customers new to cannabis or purchasing cannabis are able to leave any misgivings at the door. This, combined with soft yet modern tech finishes such as curved millwork, and high gloss and matte surfaces, creates an all-around approachable and stylish retail space open to new and regular customers.

Above the sales floor, story windows at an atrium floods the space with natural light. All floor-level windows serve a dual purpose, layered with frosted, translucent film for security purposes. And finally, mobile product shelving allows for easy maneuvering during opening and closing of the store.

Beyond Hello - Various US Locations

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Beyond Hello - Grover Beach, CA

The Grover Beach, CA location was a 5,572 square foot renovation to an existing cannabis company’s location. The existing site was an auto repair shop and the existing construction is simply corrugated metal over moment frames. Epstein conducted a site assessment and narrative. Epstein studied the previously completed drawings and created a set to amend the previous permit. Epstein architecture, interiors, and MEP engineers studied the previously completed drawings and then developed a set of drawings to amend the previous permit. Epstein received approval from the Building Department and then coordinated with the general contractor to oversee the new retail dispensary build-out. This dispensary features a secure entry lobby with check-in, a sales floor with points of sale locations, a secure vault, employee breakroom, and private offices.

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Beyond Hello - Sterling, VA

Beyond Hello's Sterling, VA location included performing an initial site assessment and creating a narrative covering all visible architectural, interior and engineering conditions of the building. We also created a BIM model of the existing conditions and incorporated the final retail layout of the interior space. From there, Epstein’s architecture, interiors, MEP and structural teams completed the construction documents for landlord and permit approval. Once all approvals were received, we issued the drawings for construction to the selected general contractor. Epstein worked closely with the general contractor to complete the full build-out of their new retail store.

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Beyond Hello - Palm Springs, CA

Epstein was excited to have been part of the Palm Springs, CA location that unveiled a “new mid-century, modern look that is approachable, fun, fashionable and accessible as well as reflecting how we are evolving as a company,” Andreas “Dre” Neumann, Jushi’s Chief Creative Director, said.

Epstein provided architecture, interior design and MEP engineering services for the 8,700 square foot space. The mid-century building had fallen into a state of disrepair and needed extensive updating. Through our coordination the City of Palm Springs, Epstein was able to obtain the permit for interior and exterior improvements that included new landscaping, new façade treatment, new storefront glazing, a spacious retail floor, secure vault, and back-of-house accommodations for the employees.

Epstein helped develop a new look for the Palm Springs location that broke the mold from other Beyond Hello dispensaries.

Cresco Labs / Sunnyside - Schaumburg, IL

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Cresco Labs / Sunnyside - Schaumburg, IL

Cresco Labs' Sunnyside 8,389 square foot Schaumburg location included a variety of building modifications and a tenant fit-out from a former restaurant into a retail space. The fit-out included building modifications to windows, existing atrium, addition of an office, retail floor, POS counter, vault, and check-in area, receiving area, break room, toilet room rework and utilities.

Pennsylvania Medical Solutions Cultivation & Manufacturing Facility - Scranton, PA

Epstein is provided DesignBuild services for the expansion of the Pennsylvania Medical Solutions (PaMS) facility located in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The medical cannabis cultivation and manufacturing facility includes cultivation, processing and packaging, manufacturing, analytical lab, tissue culture, husbandry, and employee welfare area. The two-phased expansion nearly doubles the square footage of the subsidiary’s grower-processor facility from roughly 90,000 square feet to more than 160,000 square feet. The majority of the approximately 70,000 square foot expansion is focused on increasing the facility’s canopy, or plant growing space, that tripled to about 98,000 square feet of canopy.

OhiGrow Cultivation & Manufacturing Facility - Toledo, OH

Epstein is providing DesignBuild services for the expansion and renovation of the OhiGrow facility, a medical cannabis cultivation facility with cultivation, processing, and packaging capabilities.

The expansion and renovation will occur over multiple phases to expand the existing 10,000 square foot building to over 40,000 square feet, paving the way for a dramatic increase in output. The first phase of the project will create a 16,000 square foot, single-story expansion.

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OhiGrow Cultivation & Manufacturing Facility

Green Thumb Industries - Oglesby, IL

Epstein provided MEP engineering services to Green Thumb Industries (GTI) for an expansion to their Oglesby, Illinois cannabis cultivation facility. The expansion included new office/welfare space, new packaging and production spaces and new agricultural cultivation spaces.

Our HVAC design included cultivation areas (flower/veg/mother/dry rooms) and dedicated semi-custom dehumidification AHUs for these areas as well. Each cultivation room was served by two fully independent AHUs that work in tandem to achieve heating, cooling, dehumidification and humidification demands of space for day (lights on) and night (lights off) mode. Each AHU came equipped with UV lights, MERV 14 filtration, and CO2 injection controls and were located indoors on equipment platform above rooms with a remote condensing on roof for ease of maintenance and enhance longevity.

In the processing/manufacturing areas, Epstein's engineers provided dedicated AHUs with VAV control for analytical lab, ethanol extraction, and post processing areas. Processing and manufacturing spaces have dedicated AHU with heating, cooling, and dehumidification including economizer, UV lights and MERV 13 filtration.

In the miscellaneous and support areas, Epstein engineers provided DOAS units for ventilation with VRF multi-zone heat pump system for heating and cooling.