Buying or selling a cannabis business in Tampa, Florida

What Tampa does and does not control

Tampa issues no cannabis licence. The state licenses vertically integrated medical marijuana treatment centres, and a Tampa store is a location under one of them; the structure is on the Florida page. Under section 381.986(11), a city or county may ban dispensing facilities outright. One that does not ban them may not cap their number or regulate their location more strictly than pharmacies. Neither the City of Tampa nor Hillsborough County chose a ban. Both regulate through zoning, and the county adds a licensing layer.

Where can a dispensary go in the City of Tampa?

In the same districts as a pharmacy. Tampa’s schedule of district regulations in section 27-156 makes a medical marijuana dispensary a permitted principal use in the OP-1, CN, CG and CI districts. In the IG and IH industrial districts it is allowed only as an accessory to a processing facility. Processing is permitted in IG and IH. In IG the zoning lot must be at least 20,000 square feet, and processing floor area on one lot is capped at 100,000 square feet. The Ybor City table permits dispensaries in YC-1, YC-5, YC-6, YC-7 and YC-9, and YC-2 needs a City Council special use.

The buffer is in section 27-282.29, added by Ordinance 2017-132 in August 2017. Dispensaries and processing facilities may not sit within 500 feet of a school’s real property. The distance runs in a straight line from the dispensary building to the school property boundary, regardless of the travel route. Any reduction is a special use-2 permit heard by City Council.

What unincorporated Hillsborough County adds

Outside city limits the rules are tighter on process, though not on distance.

Zoning. Land Development Code section 6.11.127 allows dispensing as a conditional use in the CN, CG, CI and M districts. In BPO, UC-1 and UC-2 it is an accessory use that still needs conditional use approval. No application fee is charged for the conditional use. The 500-foot school buffer is measured property line to property line, and the applicant files a certified survey no more than 30 days old. A waiver is a special use heard by the Land Use Hearing Officer, with notice to the affected schools.

Licensing. The county’s Medical Marijuana Licensing Ordinance, chapter 10, article XV, requires two approvals. The first is a county certificate of approval that lasts five years. The second is a premises authorization for each location, issued after inspection. Fees are set by county commission resolution, and the code does not print the amount. Operating rules include no dispensing between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. and dispensing as the sole use. Signs may carry no graphics, neon, internal lighting or the word “marijuana”. No queuing is allowed outside.

Change of ownership. Under section 10-517(c), the operator must notify the county in writing at least 10 days before any change in ownership or management. New owners, investors and managers must have passed level 2 background screening, and interests may not transfer until that is done. The ordinance defines an owner or investor as holding 5% or more, and it counts lenders other than banks as investors. A location change amended into the certificate may not be denied if the new site complies.

One caution for buyers. Article XV still contains a numerical limit of 1.5 certificates per 67,222 residents and a scored award contest (sections 10-510 and 10-512). Both were adopted in March and June 2017, before the state barred caps by jurisdictions that allow dispensing. Ask the county in writing how it applies those sections today rather than assuming either way.

Tampa and Hillsborough at a glance

Item	City of Tampa	Unincorporated Hillsborough
Approval	Permitted use in OP-1, CN, CG, CI	Conditional use in CN, CG, CI, M
School buffer	500 ft, building to school property	500 ft, property line to property line
Local licence	None	Certificate of approval plus premises authorization
Ownership change	No city step	10 days’ written notice and screening

Temple Terrace and Plant City apply their own codes, so confirm the jurisdiction from the parcel record. The wider framework is in zoning, buffers and conditional use permits and local control and municipal approvals.

What is actually tradeable here

Real estate and leases. A treatment centre has to grow and manufacture as well as sell. That makes an IG or IH building that meets Tampa’s lot-size and school rules scarcer than another retail bay. See landlord consent and cannabis lease clauses.

Ancillary businesses, which sell into licensees without a plant-touching licence; see ancillary cannabis businesses.

A whole MMTC. Florida had 779 dispensing locations in early September 2026. Two licences were listed at $40 million and $55 million in October 2019, and the state added 22 licences on 11 September 2026. See license value in capped vs uncapped states.

Buyers should check volumes against the Office of Medical Marijuana Use’s weekly reports and note that Florida requires a real estate licence for business brokerage; see business broker licensing by state. This is general information, not legal advice. To talk through a Tampa deal in confidence, book an intro call.