Even with the legalization of marijuana, many license holders have had extreme difficulty securing property and creating relationships with the surrounding community. Zoned Properties is a leading real estate development firm for emerging and highly regulated industries including legalized cannabis. With its increasingly beneficial expansion of services, the firm has recently announced the appointment of Berekk Blackwell as Chief Operating Officer.
“Coming from international franchise operations, which can be one of the most highly regulated industries in business, I have been able to quickly identify strategic parallels to assimilate into the cannabis industry. We plan to leverage common best practices from these various emerging sectors to drive momentum across each of the operational divisions for Zoned Properties,” said Berekk Blackwell, Chief Operating Officer for Zoned Properties.
For the past year, Blackwell has played a significant role in Zoned Properties’ operational expansion as Director of Business Development, successfully launching several new growth projects. Prior to joining Zoned Properties, Blackwell developed domestic and international markets for Kahala Brands, a global franchise organization with more than 3,000 retail locations in over a dozen countries. The conglomerate included Cold Stone Creamery, Blimpie Subs, and other name-brand quick service restaurant (QSR) franchises. Most recently, Blackwell broadened his capital market background leading emerging brand and portfolio operations for several private equity groups investing in the restaurant franchise space.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Bryan McLaren, plans to continue recruiting talented individuals to contribute to the Company’s core mission, vision, and values. The investment in new executive talent will increase the Company’s ability to identify, develop, and deliver critical needs for complex real estate projects from start to finish.
“Berekk has been absolutely essential to the launch of Zoned Properties’ advanced client offerings and our collection of growth services. For the past year, he has played an integral role in developing our multilayered approach to commercial real estate through purpose-built solutions for complex and highly regulated business landscapes,” said Bryan McLaren.
With the recent advancement of the Company’s growth divisions, Blackwell will oversee Zoned Properties’ Commercial Real Estate Advisory, Brokerage, Franchise, and PropTech Data services. Blackwell will continue to expand Zoned Properties’ team of Senior Advisors across the country in tandem with overall business development. The Company’s full-spectrum of commercial real estate services is helping clients and projects across the country enhance value and mitigate risk in emerging and highly regulated industries. For more information, call 877-360-8839 or visit www.ZonedProperties.com.
