Image courtesy of Ascend Wellness

A cannabis company led by former Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral that received state approval in November for an indoor cultivation facility in Athol has sold the property for $26.8 million to a San Diego REIT.

As part of the transaction, Ascend Wellness Holdings LLC signed a long-term, triple-net lease. The buyer, Innovative Industrial Properties, has agreed to reimburse the company $22.2 million for tenant improvements, IIP said in a press release.

In June 2018, Athol officials approved the conversion of the former Union Butterfield factory into a cultivation facility. In November, the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission approved a final license for up to 100,000 square feet of indoor cultivation space at the Athol property.

In January, Cabral told town officials that the facility could eventually employ up to 300 people. According to a document filed with the Massachusetts Cannabis Commission, Ascend plans to hire six former Suffolk County House of Corrections inmates who have completed job training and re-entry programs.

Since its founding in 2016, IIP has invested over $675 million in cannabis-related real estate and owns 65 properties nationwide totaling 4 million rentable square feet. Its other Massachusetts properties are leased to Holistic Industries in Monson, PharmaCann in Holliston and Trulieve in Holyoke.