SMYRNA — Multistate cannabis operator Shangri-La Farms is proposing an outdoor cultivation facility near Smyrna that could grow as many as 50,000 cannabis plants at a time, more than double the number of live marijuana plants currently growing in Delaware.
Shangri-La Farms is proposing about three acres of outdoor cannabis cultivation within a roughly nine-acre growing area on Gravesend Road in Smyrna. Kent County property and real estate records list the entire property at 19 acres with an address of 503 Gravesend Rd.
Details of the operation emerged during an Aug. 19 administrative licensing hearing held by the Delaware Office of the Marijuana Commissioner (OMC). Under state regulations, the OMC is required to hold a public hearing after 10 neighbors filed protests for the proposed business. No decisions are made during these hearings.
The newly proposed cannabis grow operation would be operated by Shangri-La Farms’ Nevil Patel alongside Head Grower Frank Alvarez-Gil. Shangri-La Farms has operated since 2019 and has operations in five states.
Nationwide, Shangri-La’s investments include a $34 million, 40,000-square-foot cultivation and manufacturing facility in Connecticut, along with a separate 10,000-square-foot manufacturing site in the same state. The company also owns cultivation and manufacturing operations in Missouri and retail locations in Ohio, Connecticut, Illinois and Missouri.
In early 2025, Shangri-La reported more than 230 employees nationwide, according to the Business Wire.
The amount of investment proposed for the property in Smyrna was not disclosed.
If licensed, Alvarez-Gil would work at the site alongside three other full-time employees, with about a dozen additional workers brought in for the farm’s expected two harvest periods. He has 16 years of cannabis industry experience to the project and worked in eight states.
The property was most recently purchased by Teen Mom star Kailyn Lowry in July 2024 for $475,000 who later transferred the property to herself as trustee of the KILLR Revocable Trust for $10, according to a deed recorded with the county.
Since her time on national television, Lowry has launched several business ventures, including the KILLR Podcast Network and Pothead Haircare, a line of CBD-infused hair products launched in 2018. The haircare company halted sales in 2021, citing regulatory challenges surrounding CBD products that restricted advertising and caused some international shipments to be confiscated.
She also announced she would open indoor athletic facility KILLR Sports in Smyrna. The facility held a groundbreaking ceremony in November 2025.
If Shangri-La comes to fruition, it would be one of the largest cultivation sites in Delaware. The state has 46,069 live marijuana plants statewide as of Aug. 19, according to the OMC public dashboard. Shangri-La estimates it could grow between 20,000 to 50,000 plants at a time.
The roll-out of the state’s recreational marijuana industry has been stalled by local resistance from neighbors and municipalities to have the businesses in their borders, even as the state legalized the market. One year in, retailers sold $53.4 million in products- far below the $281 million projected two years ago.
The challenges cultivation and recreation license holders face in Delaware were on display at the Aug. 19 meeting, where neighbors to the property came out and testified against the Shangri-La proposal.
Heather Maddage, who lives two doors away from the property, said representatives had invited neighbors to visit the farm and discuss their plans. The meeting went well, but she still had concerns about odor from an outdoor marijuana farm. Maddage has asthma and other lung conditions, and she worried that the smell could trigger respiratory problems at her home.
“If I’m in public and walk past somebody that triggers my asthma, I can walk away,” she said. “If I’m outside, I can’t walk away.”
The two-week harvest period twice a year would likely result in the most odor, Alvarez-Gill said. To help mitigate that, he added that the farm will use plant varieties with lower terpene profiles along with technology such as a Fogco system.
During the meeting, neighbor Ed Sonson took a different approach to opposing the development of the property, saying that he has invested about $800,000 in his own property which he intended to be his retirement home. He questioned whether the licensing process was occurring only as a formality after significant work had already been completed at the site.
“To me, this is a dog and pony show,” Sonson said.
Kent County records show some development has already received county approval independent of the pending state cannabis license. The county issued an agricultural farm building permit July 17 for the Gravesend Road parcel describing the project as a “processing barn with power and water” and an office trailer for employees. The permit application was filed June 30.
Marijuana Commissioner Joshua Sanderlin told the Delaware Business Times that this building will be used to cure, dry, trim and store harvested plant material after cultivation and prior to being sent to a production or manufacturing facility. He added that it was needed before the property owners could continue subdividing the property for the cultivation application.
Local real estate agent Jeri Sheats, who lives in the area with his family, spoke at the hearing in support of the proposed cannabis cultivation operation during Wednesday’s hearing, stating that he would prefer to see the property remain in an agricultural use rather than converted for development such as a solar farm.
Sheats represented Lowry in her $475,000 purchase of the Gravesend Road property in 2024, according to Zillow.
“I know it doesn’t make sense because I make money off selling real estate, but because the town in the area is so important to us, that’s what I would rather see,” Sheats said. “You probably know a big thing right now is solar farms. They’re popping up everywhere. And that’s something I’m opposed to. It’s taken away from the traditional agricultural pieces, the beauty of the landscape, that sort of thing.”
The OMC is required to issue a written decision following the hearing on the Smyrna application, although state code does not establish a specific number of days on which that decision must be issued.
Cultivation at this site remains contingent on final approval from the office.