The Cultivation Exit

    OKLAHOMA GROW FACILITY OWNERS

    Every dead cultivation license is, eventually, a landlord's problem. Oklahoma issued 15,103 grower licenses and holds 1,801 today. The licenses left. The buildings did not.

    Trio CRE represents the owners of those buildings. We answer three questions in writing — what the facility is worth, who uses it next, and how fast it can be producing income again — and then we go execute the answer.

    What Trio CRE does — and does not — do here

    Trio CRE works strictly for facility owners. We do not broker OMMA licenses, we do not represent license holders, and we do not work the tenant side of these situations. License questions belong with your cannabis attorney; lease-default mechanics with your counsel. We answer the real-estate question: what is the building worth, who uses it next, and how fast can it be producing income again.

    THE THESIS: THE LICENSE LEAVES, THE BUILDING STAYS

    Oklahoma's cultivation industry has been contracting for four straight years. Active grower licenses peaked at 9,402 in December 2021 and stand at 1,801 as of August 3, 2026 — a decline of 81% from the peak. That is a cannabis-industry story on the surface. Underneath it, it is a real-estate story, because almost none of those growers owned the building they operated in.

    When a grower's license ends, the rent ends with it. What remains is a landlord holding a purpose-built industrial box — heavy power, upgraded mechanical systems, water treatment, sealed floors, security — with a tenant that cannot legally operate and a replacement pool that shrinks every month the industry contracts. In 2026 the state is still losing roughly 75 grower licenses a month. Each one is another owner who is about to be in this position.

    The instinct is to wait for the industry to turn. The data does not support waiting: Oklahoma's moratorium on new grower licenses runs through August 1, 2028 under HB 3143, so no new licensed cultivators are entering the market to backfill your space before then. The tenant who takes this building is far more likely to be an industrial user than a cannabis one — which makes it a repositioning question, and repositioning questions get more expensive the longer they sit unanswered.

    OMMA licensing data · as of August 3, 2026

    THE NUMBERS BEHIND THE PRACTICE

    15,103
    Grower licenses ever issued
    Over the life of the Oklahoma program
    9,402
    Concurrent peak
    December 2021
    1,801
    Active today
    −81% from peak
    ~75/mo
    Still declining in 2026
    2,175 in March → 1,801 in August

    Source: Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority licensing and tax data, as published through August 3, 2026. The full monthly series, the county-level count of former-grow premises, and the methodology behind these figures are on our market report page, updated monthly.

    Oklahoma Grow Facility Market Report

    FOUR WAYS OWNERS ARRIVE HERE

    Nearly every call starts as one of four situations. Each one has a different urgency and a different first move, but all four end at the same three questions.

    01

    My tenant lost their license

    The grower operating in your building no longer holds an active OMMA license. Rent is either about to stop or has already stopped, and the lease is now a document about a business that cannot legally operate.

    This is the most common way a cultivation building comes back to its owner. The building did not change; the tenant's ability to pay did. The work is to establish what the building is worth to its next user and how quickly that user can be found.

    The 30-day sequence for this scenario
    02

    My tenant vacated

    The space is empty. Depending on how the tenant left, you may be holding heavy electrical service, benching, light-deprivation systems, HVAC and dehumidification, water treatment, and security infrastructure you never specified.

    A vacated grow is not simply vacant space. Some of what was installed is an asset to the next tenant and some of it is a cost to remove. Sorting one from the other is the first valuation question.

    03

    My tenant is wobbling

    Rent is arriving late, arriving short, or arriving with an explanation attached. Nothing has defaulted yet, but the pattern has changed and you are watching it more closely than you were six months ago.

    This is the cheapest moment to act, and the one most owners let pass. A contingency plan built while the tenant is still paying costs nothing and shortens every downside scenario.

    04

    Built out, never licensed

    A tenant took the space, spent real money on the buildout, and never reached an operating license — or reached it and never scaled. You are holding a purpose-built facility that never produced the income the buildout implied.

    The improvements exist regardless of the license that did not. The question is which of them a non-cannabis industrial user will pay for, and what the building leases or sells for on that basis.

    WHAT WE ACTUALLY DO

    Five engagements, all of them owner-side. Most assignments start with the valuation and end with either a signed lease or a closed sale.

    Re-leasing the building

    Marketing the facility to the users who actually take this product today — light manufacturing, storage and distribution, contractor and trade users, indoor agriculture, and the smaller pool of remaining licensed operators consolidating into better space. The buildout is described honestly: what stays, what goes, and who pays to change it.

    Repositioning advisory

    A written read on what the building becomes if it stops being a grow. Which improvements carry value to an industrial tenant, which are demolition line items, what the power service and dock situation will support, and what the reconfiguration realistically costs before it earns rent.

    Disposition

    When holding is the wrong answer, we run a sale process — pricing to the building's industrial fundamentals rather than to what it cost to build out, and taking it to owner-users and investors who buy on the bricks, not on the story.

    Tenant-risk contingency plan

    For owners whose grow tenant is still paying: a plan built before it is needed. Current market value, the replacement-tenant pool for that specific building, the realistic downtime, and the decision tree — so if the rent stops, you are executing rather than starting.

    Broker's Opinion of Value

    A data-driven BOV on the facility as it stands, using the same three-legged framework we apply to every asset: the Bricks, the Lease, and the People. It is the analysis a lender or buyer will run — done before you need it.

    GROW FACILITY OWNER FAQ

    My cultivation tenant lost their OMMA license. What happens to my building?

    The building is unaffected; the tenant's ability to generate income from it is not. In practical terms the lease becomes a document about a business that can no longer legally operate, and the owner's decision set narrows to three options: re-lease the facility as-is, reposition it for a non-cannabis industrial user, or sell it. Trio CRE works the real-estate side of that decision — value, the replacement-tenant pool, and time to income. Lease-default mechanics and license questions go to your attorney.

    Is a former grow facility worth less than a normal industrial building?

    Not automatically, and not uniformly. Heavy electrical service, upgraded HVAC and dehumidification, water treatment, sealed floors, and security infrastructure are real improvements that some industrial users will pay for. Interior benching, light-deprivation systems, and heavily partitioned grow rooms are usually a removal cost. The valuation question is which category each improvement falls into for the specific tenant pool that building can attract.

    How many former cultivation facilities are there in Oklahoma?

    Oklahoma has issued 15,103 grower licenses over the life of the program and holds 1,801 active as of August 3, 2026. The gap is the practice: thousands of premises across the state were built out for cultivation and are no longer licensed for it. In the ten counties with the most former-grow premises alone, the count is 3,967.

    Does Trio CRE help sell or transfer marijuana licenses?

    No. Trio CRE works strictly for facility owners. We do not broker OMMA licenses, we do not represent license holders, and we do not work the tenant side of these situations. License questions belong with a cannabis attorney. We answer the real-estate question: what the building is worth, who uses it next, and how fast it can be producing income again.

    My grow tenant is still paying, but late. Is it too early to call?

    It is the best time to call. A contingency plan built while rent is still arriving costs nothing and shortens every downside scenario: you already know the building's value, the replacement-tenant pool, and the realistic downtime before you need any of it. Owners who wait until the rent stops spend the first month learning what they could have known for free.

    Where in Oklahoma does Trio CRE handle these assignments?

    Statewide. The Oklahoma City metro is home, but former cultivation facilities are spread across rural and small-market counties — Creek, Logan, Delaware, Pottawatomie, Grady, Le Flore, and Lincoln counties each hold hundreds of former-grow premises. Call Jonathan Thompson at (405) 406-4045 to talk through a specific building.

    FIND OUT WHAT THE BUILDING IS WORTH

    Answer four questions about the facility and Jonathan Thompson will come back with a valuation range, the realistic re-tenanting picture, and the disposition option — in writing.

    Jonathan Thompson, Partner · Trio CRE · (405) 406-4045 · JThompson@TrioCRE.com