A cannabis production company has been busy laying the groundwork for a new facility in Merritt.

Sundial Growers recently finished a project to bring power under the Coquihalla to its property near the local airport, according to Merritt city manager Scott Hildebrand.

“They broke ground just recently, in the last few months… I believe they’re now doing the foundation work, the piling work right now,” Hildebrand says.

“They’ve got a huge facility in Olds, Alberta – which is very similar in size to the City of Merritt – and they employ over 600 people. The opportunity here in Merritt could be that big, right now in Merritt they have plans for approximately half that size. We’re working hard to facilitate their growth. If they want to grow, I’d rather them grow in Merritt than Alberta, and that’s some of the conversations we’ve been having with the province.”

Hildebrand says Sundial is on track to be partially finished construction by next spring.

The first phase of Sundial’s facility will be about 40,000 square feet in size, and the company has plans to more than quadruple the size of their space.