Business View Magazine | August 2019

238 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE AUGUST 2019 is 57,000; during the season when the snowbirds come in, it swells to around 80,000. Despite the influx of seniors at different times of the year, the average age of year-round residents is 36, making it one of the younger cities in the Coachella Valley. The majority of the population consists of working people with families. City Manager Charlie McClendon notes, “We have a couple of hospitals in the area that are major employers. And many residents are employed by the school district, and the local community college – College of the Desert. We also have a lot of people employed in our strong small business sector. And we are home to the growing cannabis industry, which is new to California since Proposition 64 passed in 2016. It’s been surprising to me, the number of jobs associated with that industry – those companies have invested tens of millions of dollars in rehabbing formerly vacant industrial buildings in our community.” Sunniva, a public, Canadian cannabis company is building a 350,000-sq.-ft. indoor cultivation facility that will be one of the largest in the area. It is expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2019. The city is pleased to have the company in the community, since it will employ a large number of people and tax revenue will be very strong. In other news, Cathedral City has been chosen by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians as the location for their third licensed casino. It will be established in the downtown area on the corner of Date Palm Drive and Highway 11; they are just waiting for the federal government to sign off on it. The casino project ties in with a 13.5-acre development across the street, featuring restaurants, hotels, and some residential housing. With those projects and the community amphitheater, Cathedral City is expecting to have a complete and vibrant downtown within two to three years. On the sustainability front, the city is home to a 14-screen movie theater; one of the only theaters in the country entirely powered by solar energy. The complex not only has solar panels on the roof, but also battery storage and is located right downtown, next to city hall. Along with the theater, all of the city parking structures downtown have rooftop solar, which covers the