Economic and Fiscal Impact of a Cannabis Campus in Buffalo, NY

The Challenge

ZG Investors, LLC, proposed to acquire approximately 47 acres at the Buffalo Lakeside Commerce Park from the Buffalo Urban Development Corporation to create a high-tech cannabis campus. The estimated $250 million project would include:

• A high-tech cannabis factory and laboratory
• Research facility
• Corporate offices
• Incubator space

Although this project was proposed in early 2019, while New York State legislation surrounding cannabis legalization, the developer was interested in conveying the project’s impact on the local economy in terms of new jobs, sales, earnings, and tax revenues to potential stakeholders.

The Solution

ZG Investors, LLC, commissioned Camoin Associates to conduct an economic and fiscal impact analysis to determine the impacts of each component of the cannabis campus.

Fiscal impacts surrounding direct factory sales were estimated using proposed sales tax rates verbalized by the New York State Governor. Camoin Associates completed the analysis in a compressed timeframe and presented ZG Investors with a report to provide to local stakeholders.

The Impact

In June 2019, state leaders in New York announced that the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act was not passed, thus preventing the Buffalo cannabis campus from being developed. Following this legislative decision, the developer announced, “we will continue our efforts to make this project a reality.”

In March 2021, recreational marijuana was legalized in New York State. That fall, the Buffalo Planning Board gave the green light to a $200 million cannabis campus project in South Buffalo project lead by Zephyr Partners. Construction began in 2022 and was expected to be completed in phases by 2024.