Contractors working on Jushi Holdings Inc.’s Prince William County expansion have filed a series of liens against the medical marijuana firm’s property, alleging they’re owed a combined $1.85 million in payments.
The mechanics liens against the site at 8100 Albertstone Circle in Manassas — where Boca Raton, Florida-based Jushi has been building a new cultivation, processing and manufacturing facility — were filed by three separate subcontractors.
As of May of this year, Warrington, Pennsylvania-based Limbach Co. LLC claimed it was owed $1,666,243 and Manassas-based A&E Plumbing Inc. said it was owed $119,238, according to public records. In March 2022, Sterling’s A.P.I. Concrete Core Drilling LLC claimed to be owed $61,787.
While that mechanic’s lien is a year older than the others, the Washington Business Journal has not found any indication in public records that it has been released.
None of the subcontractors returned requests for comment, nor did Chicago’s Epstein Construction Inc., which is listed as the project’s general contractor on all three filings. Jushi did not return multiple requests for comment.
Jushi, a publicly traded company also with a presence in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, Ohio and California, doubled down on its Northern Virginia footprint when it bought the 96,000-square-foot facility in Manassas — and another nine acres behind it — for $22 million in spring 2021. The expansion involves adding 65,000 square feet to the property under its pharmaceutical processor subsidiary, Dalitso LLC. It expects its total investment in that project to reach $120 million to $150 million, Trent Woloveck, its chief commercial officer, told us previously.
The company also operates a handful of retail dispensaries under brand Beyond Hello in Manassas, Sterling, Fairfax, Alexandria, Arlington and Woodbridge. Six is the maximum number of dispensaries its license allows in Northern Virginia, where it’s the only licensed medical cannabis operator. The Virginia Board of Pharmacy, which regulates the state’s medical marijuana market, has granted licenses to four cannabis companies including Jushi, and each company serves one health service area, or HSA, with a maximum of six shops.
Jushi reported $284.3 million in 2022 revenue, a 36% increase from its $209.3 million the year prior, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. It also reported a net loss of $202.3 million for 2022, partially due to higher operating expenses tied to ongoing expansion across markets.
Jushi’s stock, which trades over-the-counter, has lost about 80% of its value over the last year. Its shares were trading at 49 cents Friday afternoon. Cannabis stocks have been hit hard over the past year in part because hopes have faded that Congress would move to legalize marijuana at the federal level.
Though Virginia has legalized marijuana for recreational use, it has yet to put regulations and procedures in place for establishing an adult-use retail marketplace. Maryland’s recreational cannabis market, meanwhile, is set to go live Saturday.
H/T: www.bizjournals.com
