A vacant industrial building in Newburyport has been acquired by an Ipswich company and is in permitting to open a cannabis cultivation facility.

Happy Valley Ventures MA paid $8.6 million to acquire the former Greencore Group food manufacturing facility at 2 Opportunity Way from Port Development LLC of Newburyport.

The 4-acre property includes a 63,684-square-foot warehouse built in 1994, according to assessors’ records.

Happy Valley Ventures submitted an application to Newburyport officials in June for a special permit to cultivate and manufacture marijuana at the property, The Newburyport Daily News reported. The cultivation facility would employ 70 people, according to application materials.

The Newburyport city council in May approved an ordinance that allows marijuana cultivation facilities in the city’s business park, which includes the Opportunity Way property.

Greencore shuttered its Newburyport and Brockton facilities in 2015 after developing a new plant in Rhode Island.

Port Development LLC bought the property for $3.7 million in August 2017.