The first licensed medical marijuana grow operation in Isabella County is about to become operational.

The Hempire Collective plans to bring in its first plants this week at its newly built 16,000-square-foot facility at 10147 Loomis Road in Wise Township.

The family-run business received its license from the state on Nov. 27 for a Class C grow operation, which is up to 1,500 plants. The company also has approval from the township for another 1,500-plant grow operation, a provisioning center and a processing center, all for medical marijuana.

It will take about 12 weeks for the first harvest, and the company hopes that if all goes well, the provisioning center can be open by March. The facility is ready, but they still need license approval from the state.

There is room to expand at the site, and the processing center is a long-range goal.

CEO Tre Porter called the project a “labor of love” for him and his family.

Managing partners are Tre, his mother Judith Porter, and family friend Dave Zick. Joining them are Tre’s brothers Allen and Mario Porter; Judith’s brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Judith and Richard Porter; and that couple’s son-in-law, Dominic Gillette.

Tre Porter, 43, grew up in Remus and moved to Mt. Pleasant in 1994. His mother worked for Central Michigan University. After serving 20 years in the Army, Tre now lives in Southfield and Judith lives in Troy.

Now, they feel they are back home in a way, and want to help the community.

Choosing Wise Township, even though they were familiar with Isabella County, was a right time at the right place kind of decision. The family was working with a company that specializes in finding locations for marijuana businesses and the Wise Township land was available.

They put in a bid and acquired the property in spring 2018.

It’s been quite an investment of time and money so far. They spent $2.5 million on construction costs. The only employees are themselves and for now, their paychecks are zero.

However, it is no coincidence the family is supporting medical marijuana.

Tre’s twin brother Tai, also a U.S. Army veteran, died of kidney cancer in 2017 after being diagnosed as stage 4 in 2015. During that time, marijuana was the only thing that helped him with his pain and side effects, Tre said.

“We’re kind of passionate about it,” Tre said. “That’s why we got into it. We want to be able to help people the way it helped my brother.”

His brother spent 10 years in the Army and did four tours of duty.

For inspiration, Tre has a photo of his brother on his desk at the Wise Township site. It’s a large photo taken when Tre, Tai and their mother visited Amsterdam as part of a family excursion when Tre was serving in Poland.

Judith and Tre strongly believe others should have access to medical marijuana.

Being a military family, veterans also are important to them. Veterans may be suffering from cancer, from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or other injuries and health issues.

“We just felt it was something we could do to help people who may need it. Not just veterans with cancer but anybody that may need it,” Tre said.

“I know it helps. I know it helped my brother and it will help other people,” he added.

The Porters believe there will be a market in mid-Michigan.

“You remember that movie, ‘Field of Dreams?’ If you build it, they will come. All we have to do is market it,” Tre said. “From what I understand people in this area drive to Flint and Bay City to get their medical marijuana.”

“We’re mom and pop,” Judith said. “We’re very high tech, but we’re mom and pop…. As Tre said, there are big grows and you get people who don’t care. They are in it for the money and they get a lot of investors. We controlled this because we know what small communities are like and we know what’s important to the community. We don’t want a lot of outside investors taking us away from our values.

“We hope to grow fast enough, and we think we will, but we really want to control it. We don’t want somebody who’s not familiar with the area to try to tell us what we have to do,” she added.

A recent open house in Wise Township drew 41 people to see the new building. The future provisioning center is ready with cabinets, counters and chairs in the reception area. The climate-controlled grow facilities will soon be filled with plants.

As required by the state, security features are in place throughout the facility.

Tre said he hoped seeing the facility will ease the concerns some people in the rural township might have. “We’re not a drug cartel growing weed in a pole barn,” he said.

With the grow operation, they hope to supply their own provisioning center and sell the rest to other companies wholesale.

There should be a demand, as grow operations statewide have been slow to get started and provisioning centers struggled to get enough products.

The overall plan for Hempire Collective is to open other dispensaries and use the grow operations entirely to supply their own businesses.

For now, they are starting small and the doing the work themselves. They expect to start hiring in the second quarter of next year and once it’s at full capacity will employ at least 20 people in the grow operation and an estimated six to eight in the provisioning center.

A cultivation specialist job at the grow operation will start at $14 an hour.

Tre hopes their quality will be what separates them from the others.

Judith notes that he wants the business to be like the Apple company, known for its well-organized and appealing stores.

It’s important to them that this stay a family company.

“A lot of these grows are big companies and people with deep, deep pockets, that have been able to go in, throw a bunch of money at it, and do everything. This (the business) is something that we’re going to have to grow,” Tre said, explaining that they want the business to fund everything going forward and that will take some time.

He stressed they want to help the community, including by hiring local people.

They will apply for a recreational license in Wise Township if the township opts in to allow those businesses.

Hempire Collective also hopes to apply for a recreational license in Mt. Pleasant. The city will begin accepting applications in January but has limits on the number of retailers and grow operations it will allow; the city will decide the winners with a point-based system.

In Mt. Pleasant right now, only one provisioning center, Consano, is open. One other provisioning center and a provisioning center/grow operation have received licenses and are working toward opening.

3967 Euclid LLC is approved by the city for a site at 1005 Corporate Drive. The company also has received conditional authorization for a Class A grow operation at the site. The company has received a building permit from the city.

H.G. Lansing LLC is approved for a site at 2157 S. Mission St., the former Cherry Berry location. Mt. Pleasant City Planner Jacob Kain said the business received a certificate of occupancy for the interior building but hasn’t come back yet for final authorization from the city clerk.