Colorado Cannabis Business Park May Shutter Over Electrical Dispute

The owners of a Colorado marijuana business park are trying to foreclose on property owned by one of its tenants due to a long-running dispute over who’s responsible for paying the electrical bill.

The tenant, Terry Ferrari, allegedly owes the owners of Area 420 – a business park that is home to about 70 cannabis-related companies – more than $100,000 in unpaid electricity bills plus interest, according to a lawsuit filed by Area 420’s parent company, Potch LLC, NBC reported.

Both sides began pointing fingers over who was responsible for the electrical bill not long after Ferrari purchased land in the business park in 2021, but the sale contract for the land didn’t specify which party was responsible for having commercial-level indoor lighting and electrical systems installed.

Ferrari said he understood that was on Area 420, while Area 420 owners say Ferrari knew he’d have to arrange for electricity through the local utility, the San Luis Valley Rural Electric Cooperative.

Frustrated, Ferrari quit paying Area 420. He told NBC that he’s already spent another $2 million for construction and renovations on the property, but the necessary electrical upgrades could be cost-prohibitive to further operations.

“I’ve been looking at a big building that I can’t use, and I’m in a big heap of trouble, because they promised me power and couldn’t give it to me,” Ferrari told NBC, adding that he committed his life savings to the proposed farm.

But Mike Biggio, one of the owners of Area 420, responded, “It’s up to each individual buyer to determine how much power they need, and then they have to pay for it. This is a power company issue, not a developer issue. … I’ve bent over backwards trying to work with him.”