Zoned Properties (OTCQX:ZDPY) CEO Bryan McLaren sat down with Executive Casts to speak about triple-net leasing, the importance of understanding legislation in the industry which ZDPY operates, and developing community relationships. ZDPY is a strategic real estate development firm whose primary mission is to identify, develop, and lease sophisticated, safe, and sustainable properties in emerging industries, including the licensed medical marijuana industry.
Please take a moment to listen to these brief clips to connect with Zoned Properties CEO Bryan McLaren.
- Value Proposition to Clients
- On Triple-Net-Leasing
- Vision Statement
- The Importance of Understanding Legislation
- Developing Community Relationships
Value Proposition to Clients
So, our major value-add for clients and tenants is that we take away a lot of the distraction. So, we, as Zoned Properties, come in as the strategic real estate firm and say, “Focus on your business. Make your business the best it can possibly be in the medical marijuana industry. We will take care of all the complex questions and procedures into actually developing the facility for you.”
Triple-Net-leasing
So, the important thing about a triple net lease, which is net-net-net or you’ll often see as NNN described. So, you’re taking three of the more expensive aspects of owning a property and you’re passing that financial burden on to your tenant. Insurance payments, property tax payments and any actual sales tax or rental tax associated with the property. By setting up a lease with a triple net payment structure, what Zoned Properties is able to do is increase the amount of revenue we receive and the amount of cash flow. We are actually requiring that the operating tenant pays those three items — Insurance, property tax and rental tax.
ZDPY Vision Statement
Bryan: As part of the vision of Zoned Properties, we’re looking to establish large-scale facility developments in new locations and new states with leading tenant operators in those regions. And that process will allow us to, not only create a drastic increase in shareholder value through the company, but also it allows to focus on increasing Community Prosperity. Any location where a Zoned Properties development has taken place, the community itself has improved.
Understanding Legislation
So, the team here at Zoned Properties we spend a lot of time researching existing and new and upcoming legislation on a state by state level and at the national level, which includes rules and regulations that are being put in place around medical marijuana industry. Of course that’s a focus of Zoned Properties for the emerging medical marijuana industry. We need to be as increased as possible in our expertise of that process. Our architects, our management team, our local contractors and vendors, all of these individuals we require to be at the front end of Code Compliance rules and regulation. So, as new items are coming into place for medical marijuana operators, these groups and companies that are our clients and tenants we know exactly what’s coming down the pipeline. And these can be code and compliance rules and regulations everything from, “Can the client deliver or distribute directly to a consumer or a patient? What types of security measures have to be in place at the facilities?” These are often very expensive things that clients would have to pay individual vendors. Instead, Zoned Properties brings all of those in a package deal. We’ll worry about all of those complicated regulatory pieces for you and deliver you a turnkey functional facility.
Developing Community Relationships
So, one of the most important things I do and Zoned Properties does is develop positive collaborative relationships with local municipal officials — the police department, the fire department, the actual city councils and council members themselves. What we find across the country is that, because of the history of negative stigma associated with marijuana, oftentimes new operators and developers will just come in throwing elbows. They’ll find a location, they’ll cut corners, they’ll never develop a relationship with the local community or the local officials. What happens as a result of that, is that in the future, whether at six months one year down the road, there is an adverse event that puts the community against the medical marijuana operator. That’s extremely expensive. That can lead to legal fees, that can lead to changes in permitting a construction in a millions of dollars. So, these are landmines we consider in the process of developing a medical marijuana business and property. By creating positive relationships with local officials, we can help influence that process rather than coming up against that brick wall in the future. It can literally save millions of dollars as you develop and lease these types of facilities.
Bryan McLaren, CEO Zoned Properties Inc. (ZDPY)
Mr. McLaren is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zoned Properties, a strategic real estate development firm that identifies, develops, and leases sophisticated, safe, and sustainable properties in emerging industries. McLaren has a strong professional background in the social, economic, and environmental development of complex business organizations. For more than a decade he has successfully implemented programs and projects for corporate and community organizations. Mr. McLaren holds a Bachelors of Business Administration and Ethics Studies from the University of San Diego, a Masters of Sustainable Development from Northern Arizona University, an Executive Masters in Business Leadership from Arizona State University, and an MBA focused on Sustainable Development from Marylhurst University. Throughout his graduate education, McLaren devoted time to community development and philanthropic efforts earning a number of honors and awards including Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society Membership and the Distinguished Walton Scholarship. Mr. McLaren is also a certified Green Roof Professional and has been certified as a LEED Green Associated by the United States Green Building Council. Prior to his role at Zoned Properties, McLaren worked as a Sustainability Consultant for Waste Management where he led the strategic development and operational implementation of zero-waste programs for Higher Education clients. McLaren has worked as a Sustainability Program Manager in the Higher Education industry and has been appointed as a City Sustainability Commissioner. Sustainable development has been a life-long passion for McLaren, who strives to create a global impact by forging a strong foundation for principles of sustainability in emerging industries such as the medical marijuana industry. See all of Bryan McLaren’s clips here.
Article by GEO Investing
