Chapter I / Trade press

How King City Gardens Built Its Forest Park Cannabis Grow

Cannabis Business Times published a sponsored feature on May 19, 2025 on how King City Gardens built its Forest Park grow, from a 2021 license to plants growing in August 2023.

Sponsored content from Fluence, our lighting supplier

2025.05.19Trade pressChapter I

About King City Gardens Read it on Cannabis Business Times

Looking down the main hallway of our Forest Park grow toward the lion crest and the King City Gardens name at its end — Photo: King City Gardens

Cannabis Business Times: lights and HVAC first, then the Forest Park grow around them

Cannabis Business Times reported that Bill Foster had followed Ohio cannabis since the 2015 ballot issue. The King City Gardens group was turned down twice, went to court, and won a license in 2021, as pandemic shortages hit suppliers.

But don't skim on the contractors and the buildout

Bill Foster, Managing member, King City Gardens. Quoted in Cannabis Business Times.

Long equipment waits forced an unusual order: lights and HVAC first, building design second. The air handling came from five different makers, so no two rooms are quite alike. The site was found in May 2022, construction began that January, and plants were growing by August 15, 2023.

The finished Forest Park grow holds 25,000 square feet of two-tier canopy in an 88,000 square foot building. Each room is 2,883 square feet, with tiers six feet apart under about 2,000 LED fixtures. Ten people ran the first six rooms, owners included.

Forest Park grow build: license, equipment and room design facts

1
King City Gardens won its Ohio cultivator license in 2021 and had plants growing in Forest Park by August 2023.
2
The two-tier rooms were built around lighting and HVAC equipment that could be obtained during pandemic shortages.
3
Managing member Bill Foster advises spending on contractors and the buildout rather than skimping.