Vida Canada contracts to purchase production plant

Established by Peter Munk’s Clairtone Sound in 1966, the production plant manufactured televisions and employed almost 1,100 employees. Unfortunately, Clairtone’s fortunes were short-lived in the electronics manufacturing industry and the factory slid into a state of dormancy, only periodically utilized thereafter for other purposes by companies like department store giant Sears, which utilized the space as a shipping and receiving warehouse.

Vida Cannabis identified the facility as the perfect structure to house a large-scale medical marijuana production plant. Vida further determined the plant’s location in Stellarton is ideal, with the modern infrastructure in place to run such a facility efficiently.

The building itself is a virtual fortress. The 315,000ft2 facility is contained entirely under one large, seven-acre steel roof erected on windowless 18-foot-high concrete walls supported by an engineered concrete floor that is in nearly perfect condition.

As the interior of the facility is structured like an aircraft hangar, it is literally wide open with no restrictive points to developing a customized medical marijuana plant that optimizes the building’s entire square footage.

Set 400m back from a transport highway, the 12-acre property has a single access point making security remarkably efficient for such a large building, which is already surrounded by a – meter high fence with barbed wire top.

In keeping with Health Canada requirements for licensing of medical marijuana production facilities, intrusion detection systems, round-the-clock surveillance and other minor security-related alterations will be implemented by Vida.

Under the terms of the agreement, Vida Canada will be granted by the Town of Stellarton a 50-year irrevocable license to produce medical marijuana at the facility, subject to Vida Canada obtaining a commercial license from Health Canada. Such local approval is a condition necessary to making a successful application to Health Canada. The deal is scheduled to close on or before 15 April for a total purchase price of $500,000.

Vida Cannabis CEO Gregory Wilson noted the company is extremely pleased with the total package that accompanies this remarkable facility.

"The people of the Town of Stellarton are at the top of that list. The local support for our Canadian medicinal marijuana operations has been virtually 100%. When operating at full capacity we anticipate labour needs of 200-300 employees. We look forward to bringing quality employment opportunities to the area and will hire and train people from the region whenever possible," Wilson added.