< Previous“I’m hoping it will be even bigger than Blue Moon,” Villa tells Site Selection. “The market for cannabis is on the brink of exploding. We’re almost in the same place we were back in when I launched Blue Moon, where in the beer world people weren’t really quite sure what a craft beer was. And eventually Blue Moon grew to become the biggest-selling craft beer brand in the U.S.”If he has his way, Villa’s new brew will be on the shelves of dispensaries in Colorado by the end of the year. The yet-to-be named line of beers, says Villa, “will offer a whole new sensation. Our primary market will be the recreational users who want to experiment with it. Or maybe they don’t like the taste of alcohol or can’t drink alcohol, but they really like a great-tasting craft beer and want that pleasurable sensation. Those are the folks we are really going to target with our marketing, and offer them something that’s unique.”Federal law prohibits brewers from using marijuana in their beers. Villa’s brew, because the alcohol will be siphoned out of it, is being conceived to skirt that ban, even as marijuana itself remains federally illegal. Recreational marijuana currently is permitted in nine states plus the District of Columbia. A Change of HeartVilla says that since his retirement from Molson Coors early this year he’s become a believer in marijuana’s benefits.“Initially I was against marijuana and cannabis,” says Villa, “mainly because I grew up in a world where people referred to it as an evil drug that was good for nothing except getting people stoned. I started reading articles about veterans coming back for duty and they would have PTSD and use cannabis to successfully treat their stress disorder.“Then I read about cancer patients who were using it to get over their nausea from 78 JULY 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO NIt’s coming from a very trusted producer of the product.”— Jessica Lukas, VP Consumer Insights, BDS AnalyticsImages: Getty Images80 JULY 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO Ntheir treatments or to regain their appetites,” he continues. “Then I also read about mothers who were using it for their kids with epilepsy to decrease or eliminate seizures. I started seeing there was something there, and the more I read the more I saw that this was a plant that potentially has a lot of benefits.”To help dial in the right sensation, Ceria has partnered with Colorado-based ebbu, which specializes in extracting and analyzing marijuana compounds. The company’s technology allows it to provide specific feelings, ranging from relaxation to euphoria. “There are over compounds in cannabis that do different things, such as give people the giggles, give them the munchies and so forth,” says Villa. “These compounds have not been isolated and identified. Our partners at ebbu are working on isolating these different components and identifying what they do so that we can make beers with a little bit of a. giggles{fi g. 22} Cannabis Sativa (Cannabineæ)b. munchiesComposite image by Jonathan Therrell; Getty Images S I T E S E L E C T I O N JULY 2018 81THC and with the desired sensation such as happiness or a relaxed state and so forth.”Once the recipe has been developed, Ceria will be brewed at a contract brewery in the Denver area and offered on the shelves of Colorado dispensaries. If Ceria proves to be a success, Villa plans to expand next year into California and Nevada, and then into every state where marijuana is recreationally legal.Ceria, ways Villa, will taste like a good beer, not like marijuana.“We will use extracts that don’t have the cannabis taste,” he explains. “What we’ve seen is that the cannabis smell and taste can be really polarizing. Typically, about half the people that smell it and taste it think it’s really disgusting. The other half love it. What we want is for people to focus on the great taste of our craft beers. To do that, we’ll use extracts that deliver the sensations but not the aroma and taste of marijuana.”But Is the Market Ready?Top industry analysts tell Site Selection that it’s diffi cult to gauge how Villa’s creation will work in the cannabis marketplace, which, as Villa says, is undergoing vast growth and evolution.“We’ll see,” says Bart Watson, chief economist for the Boulder-based Brewers Assocation. “We’re seeing a lot of innovation in the cannabis space, so I think a lot of people are trying a lot of diff erent things. With this legal market being relatively new, it’s hard to predict which products are going to take off and which are going to struggle.“For craft-brewed beer,” says Watson, “taste is arguably the most important attribute. It’s possible with this venture that what they’re looking to do is to fi nd an overlap between cannabis consumers and craft beer consumers, who clearly care about taste and fl avor.”Jessica Lukas, vice president for consumer insights at Colorado-based BDS analytics, which tracks the cannabis market, agrees that there’s a potential market for Ceria. She says that the fi rst challenge will be to get the product onto dispensary shelves.“Education’s going to have to happen to convince dispensaries to carry these products. And there will have to be some work in getting those people who don’t currently consume to get them into the door of the dispensary to buy it. It’s coming from a very trusted producer of the product. So, I wouldn’t say it’s going to be a tough sell, but it’s going to be a very diff erent format. It’s very diff erent than what’s out there today in other cannabis beverages. e producers of these products are going to have to spend some time educating. And there will have to be some work in getting those people who don’t currently consume marijuana products to get them into the door of the dispensary to buy.“I will not be surprised if within six to months the Photo courtest of Ceria82 JULY 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO N e market for cannabis is on the brink of exploding.”— Keith Villa, Founder, Ceria S I T E S E L E C T I O N JULY 2018 83cannabis beverage landscape looks much diff erent than it does today,” says Lukas of the explosion within the market. “ e players, the products, the people buying it. I think there’s an opportunity with a cannabis beer to drive more people who don’t currently consume but are open to it. ey might feel a bit more comfortable with a product in a form that they understand.”Lukas points out that pricing, specifi cs of which Villa has not yet determined, will be a crucial factor in whether consumers will spring for Ceria.Villa says that, despite his earlier opposition to marijuana, he plans to imbibe Ceria.“Of course,” he says. “And responsibly. Right now, we’re in the same stage as the U.S. was when prohibition was repealed in . When it was repealed, there was still a stigma and it took a few years to get over it. In today’s times, cannabis has that same stigma. Once people realize the benefi ts of cannabis and all the diff erent attributes of the plant, peoples’ minds will change.” (PRONOUNCED SAIR-EE-UH)F O U N D E D: March 2018C O- F O U N D E R S:Keith Villa, Ph.D., BrewmasterJodi Villa, CEOH E A D Q U A R T E R S: Arvada, ColoradoP R O D U C T: Non-alcohol craft beers containing THC. e beer will be off ered in at least three strengths with a variety of sensations including Chill, Bliss, and Energy.L A U N C H: Winter Holiday 2018 in ColoradoPunch Bowl Social is located in San Diego’s Makers Quarter district, where downtown’s rst net-zero energy and LEED Platinum certi ed building will be built.Photo courtesy of Makers QuarterInvestors, Tenants Seek More Sustainable Locations e 2018 Sustainability Rankings highlight an evolving sense of the term, as government and corporate policies converge for the betterment of the world.Corporate multinationals have gone from would-be victims of environmental awareness to, in most cases, its champion. It plays well to an audience, for one thing. But more importantly, it plays well with others.Via a unique, data-rich index, Site Selection’s annual sustainability rankings recognize where corporate and community eff orts converge to make places with renewal, renewables and planetary responsibility on their minds. e scorecard includes global corporate social responsibility (CSR) measures from CSRHub, which tracks green corporate behavior and policies globally. at means areas get credit for hosting HQs and other facility projects from high-CSR companies.“We were struck again this year by the contrast in some companies (and U.S. states) between companies that are already in a locale and those who are choosing to site a new facility there,” say Cynthia Figge, CSRHub co-founder and CEO, and Bahar Gidwani, co-founder and CTO. “For instance, it is clear that the companies joining the Saudi Arabian economy (with an average CSRHub rank at the th percentile) could bring sustainability expertise to local Saudi companies (who have an average CSRHub rank of percent). Similar benefi ts seem to be accruing to Florida, New Jersey, and South Dakota, who may benefi t from having companies enter their state who have a -percent to -percent better CSRHub rank than the average for the companies they already host.”CSRHub, which recently formed a partnership with the National Wildlife Federation, provides access to the world’s largest corporate social responsibility and sustainability ratings and by ADAM BRUNSadam.br uns @ site s ele c tion.c omSUST AINABILITY RANKINGS 84 JULY 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO N S I T E S E L E C T I O N JULY 2018 85information. Aggregating and normalizing information from over data sources, it covers over , companies from industries in countries.“It is also interesting to see greater attention on sustainability issues from countries with big shorelines — Canada, which is No. on this year’s list, has the world’s largest shoreline — or younger populations who may have strong concerns about their country’s future (e.g. Brazil and Mexico),” they continue. “Siting companies (those who are expanding into new locations) have an average CSRHub rank of percent. is confi rms the generally held view that expanding companies generally pay more attention to sustainability issues than the ‘native’ companies in the geographies they join.” at’s a nice way of saying we sometimes treat new places better than we’ve treated our hometowns. But the rankings in these pages balance such factors as redevelopment of polluted sites, cleantech and green industry activity, energy awareness, the built environment, policy, and human well-being and quality of life. (See individual rankings charts for methodologies.)Regulations, Investors and Other DriversFor the U.S. rankings, granular data about thousands of commercial sites representing almost billion sq. ft. was fed into our index from sustainability reporting software pioneer Measurabl, which produced Measurabl Scores for states and metro areas.“A few diff erences between years that can be noted are that Washington and Massachusetts traded positions for the top two states with highest Measurabl Score, while California remains the state with the third highest score,” says Scott Knox, chief data scientist for the San Diego–based fi rm.In the overall U.S. state rankings, California vaults from No. to No. , Texas (unranked last year) bolts to No. and Massachusetts (also unranked) nabs the No. spot. ey’re followed by Colorado (unranked) at No. and North Carolina (No. last year) at No. .One major factor in the state rankings is LEED-certifi ed building stock. Overall No. Massachusetts led the nation in by adding LEED-certifi ed structures (among , tallied nationally) to its rolls, helping it place th overall in total LEED buildings and seventh in LEED buildings per capita. e leaders in total LEED buildings are California, Texas and New York; the District of Columbia leads in LEED per capita, followed by Hawaii, New Mexico, Alaska and Maryland. California is making headlines this year as a new law benchmarking building performance comes into force. In this case, indeed, companies once again may be fi nding themselves squirming under the thumb of a regulatory system many view as onerous to say the least.“We continue to see three factors drive building effi ciency and sustainability in the U.S. specifi cally: () regulation, () investor pressure () tenant demand,” Measurabl’s Knox says. “For the fi rst time, regulation has eclipsed investor pressure as the number one driver of sustainability in the U.S., thanks in particular to California’s benchmarking law, AB , fi nally coming online. California is a vast market, so regulation here not only compels buildings within the state to act, but it has a knock-on eff ect where owners of multi-state real estate portfolios like CBRE Global Investors, BlackRock, Boston Properties and AvalonBay begin to apply best practices from regulated states like California across their entire portfolio.”Globally, however, investors continue to be the No. driver, favoring the lower risk and higher returns they correlate with green buildings, Knox says. at sentiment includes lenders But sustainability as a preference in leasing decisions “has not bled into mid-market occupiers and has stayed a preference among large corporates and government who lease from buildings that are already likely to be green, or who have internal guidelines, like America’s General Services Administration [GSA], that dictate they do so.”California’s green goals got even more real as TOP 10 STATES Rank State 1 California 2 Texas 3 Massachusetts 4 Colorado 5 North Carolina 6 Virginia 7 Illinois 8 Washington 9 Ohio 10 Minnesota LEED buildings (number & per capita, USGBC, May 2018) Energy Star buildings (number & per capita, EPA)Renewable energy generation (EIA) Green industry projects (investments in “green industry” NAICS codes as de ned by US BLS; tally & per capita) CSRHub rankings Measurabl scores, at thousands of commercial sites representing nearly 5 billion sq. ft. of U.S. commercial oorspace (www.measurabl.com) Brown eld grants (historical to date, EPA, tally & per capita) Brown eld cleanups (historical to date, EPA, tally & per capita) Green laws/incentives (DSIRE database, tally & per capita, May 2018) Gallup/Healthways Well-Being rankingsCRITERIA:TOP 10 METROSRank Metropolitan Area 1 Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN2 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI3 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH4 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA5 San Diego-Carlsbad, CA6 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA7 Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN8 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX9 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI10 Pittsburgh, PA LEED buildings (number & per capita) Energy Star buildings (number & per capita) Green industry projects (tally & per capita) CSRHub rankings: Ranking areas by degree of facility investment tracked in 2015-2017 by Conway Projects Database made by companies with high corporate social responsibility ratings as measured by CSRHub (Jan. 2018 ratings, (www.csrhub.com) Measurabl metro scores Brown eld grants (tally & per capita) Brown eld cleanups (tally & per capita) Gallup/Healthways Well-Being rankingsCRITERIA:86 JULY 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO NTOP 10 COUNTRIES LEED-certi ed buildings (number & per capita, USGBC, May 2018) Renewable energy capacity (IRENA, in megawatts & MW per capita) Renewable energy deployment (RECAI index, updated May 2018 by EY) Green industry projects (investments in “green industry” NAICS codes as de ned by US BLS; tally & per capita) CSRHub rankings: Ranking areas by degree of facility investment tracked in 2015-2017 by Conway Projects Database made by companies with high corporate social responsibility ratings as measured by CSRHub (Jan. 2018 ratings, (www.csrhub.com) Ocean Health Index (2017 update) Gallup/Healthways Global Well-Being rankings (2016)CRITERIA: Rank Country 1 United States2 Canada3 Germany4 Costa Rica5 Sweden6 Turkey7 Mexico8 Spain9 United Kingdom10 Denmarksummer began, when the state mandated that solar be installed on all new homes.Metro Leaders e big metro sustainability prize goes to Greater Cincinnati, which repeats its No. fi nish in . e Queen City is followed by Chicago (up from th), Boston (from nd to rd) and Seattle (No. last year), then the California duo of San Diego at No. (up from No. ) and Los Angeles (unranked last year). e Green Cincinnati Plan (GCP) includes strategies to reduce Cincinnati’s carbon emissions by percent by , with focus areas that include energy, food, transportation, and waste systems. “If we follow this comprehensive blueprint,” said Councilmember P.G. Sittenfeld, “it will benefi t our economy, our health, our ability to attract talent, and of course the environment that we’ll pass along to our children.”Procter & Gamble is synonymous with Cincinnati. Its newly updated “Ambition ” plan refl ects an evolution of sustainability beyond environmental improvement (P&G already has achieved many of its goals) to a broader sense of positive impact on society at large.“Building on our progress to date, our goals seek to address two of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges: fi nite resources and growing consumption,” said Virginie Helias, P&G vice president of global sustainability.Greater Cincinnati was No. in LEED-certifi ed buildings, and No. in industry sectors aligned with cleantech. e nation’s capital, Los Angeles and Dallas-Fort Worth fi nished -- among metro areas for LEED-certifi ed buildings. e U.S. Green Building Council notes that top performer Boston’s Zoning Article turned years old in : “When enacted, it made Boston the fi rst city in the nation to require private developers of projects over , square feet to adhere to LEED standards.” e inaugural International Green Building Adoption Index (IGBAI) — a study by CBRE and Maastricht University (Netherlands) — reports that . percent of space in markets across Australia, Canada and Europe is now certifi ed “green” versus just . percent in .“Canadian cities set the pace, with . percent of the space in Vancouver and percent in Toronto holding ‘green’ certifi cations,” said CBRE of the nation that places No. in this year’s Sustainability rankings, behind the United States and ahead of No. Germany. Costa Rica vaults into the Top at No. , with Sweden at No. .“Increased demand for more environmentally responsible buildings from governments, corporate tenants and institutional investors has been particularly evident in cities where ‘green’ properties made up virtually no part of the offi ce market just a few years ago,” CBRE notes. “For instance, the Australian cities of Sydney and Melbourne, third and fourth in the index, saw their ‘green’ offi ce square footage increase from less than percent in to more than and . percent, respectively. Additionally, Warsaw’s ‘green’ offi ce market was essentially non-existent as recently as , but now comprises . percent of space tracked by CBRE.” Next >