Millbury, MA – Vantage Builders, Inc. announced it completed the build-out of a 100,000sf cannabis cultivation, product manufacturing and dispensary facility for GreenCare Collective (GCC), located at 12 Latti Farm Road in Millbury.
Vantage Builders completely transformed the building, which formerly housed two manufacturing tenants, into a state-of-the-art grow facility featuring clone, mother, and vegetation rooms; six 9,500sf grow rooms; cultivation process rooms for drying, trimming, curing and packaging; secure vault storage; and a commercial kitchen for the creation of cannabis edibles. The second floor has corporate office space for GCC staff. A 2,000sf dispensary is located in the front of the building and is scheduled to open this summer.
The facility includes a perpetual harvest system, which enables GCC to have plants continuously in both the flowering and vegetation stages. The perpetual harvest features GCC’s custom rolling tray system from EnviroTech Cultivation Solutions. Plants are seated in large, 15.5 foot long by 4 foot wide trays and are efficiently moved by GCC growers along wheeled conveyor racks through each stage in growth, from mother to vegetation and growth, right to processing. The process allows growers to carefully tailor the light and fertigation that plants receive at each stage, which greatly increases crop yield, product quality and the efficiency of the cultivation process.
The six grow rooms have walls and ceilings consisting of Norbec insulated metal panels and epoxy flooring, which help maintain the clean environment. Each grow room has 24 separate fertigation zones and four different lighting zones to maximize growth and healthy plants. Vantage Builders installed 2,200 LED lights from Revolution Microelectronics to create the proper grow conditions.
The project included the installation of all new mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection (MEP/FP) and HVAC infrastructure to meet the heavy systems demands of the cultivation facility. The building required a new electrical service power upgrade, including new outdoor switchgear with a CAT diesel backup generator. The main chiller plant features three Tecogen chillers, boilers and two large cooling towers that supply hot and cold-water loops for the building’s HVAC needs. The chiller plant consists of four modular sections that were assembled in Arizona, shipped to Millbury and carefully installed on a new, custom-built structural equipment pad.
All aspects of the grow process – fertigation, lighting, temperature, and CO2 levels – are controlled by an intelligent Priva building management system (BMS), while a second BMS provides control for the office and dispensary areas. Any odors created during the cannabis processing are eliminated by a Benzaco Scientific odor neutralization system.
The build represents the largest cannabis project for Vantage Builders and is one of the largest cultivation facilities in Massachusetts. The project team included BKA Architects; BLW Engineers, MEP engineering; McClure Engineering, civil engineering; and Trinity Engineering, structural engineering.
