Pot stock Cann Group will soon start building Australia’s biggest medical cannabis growing facility near Melbourne Airport.

Cann Group (ASX:CAN) — Australia’s most valuable pot stock with a $300 million market cap — today told investors it had signed a lease with Australia Pacific Airports for a five hectare site which is part of the Melbourne Airport precinct.

The facility will cost $100 million and will eventually employ 170 staff.

CAN shares were up 6 per cent to $2.95 in early Wednesday trade.

Under the deal, Australia Pacific Airports would make a multi-million dollar contribution to the project and take on the primary build of the site.

A specialist greenhouse will be designed by Aurora Larrsen Projects and then Cann Group will be able to jump in and complete the fit out of the facility.

>> Scroll down for a table of ASX stocks with exposure to cannabis

Cann will fund the project with cash from a capital raising last year as well as a combination of debt and equity.

In December 2017, the company completed a $58.7 million share placement — $10 million more than its planned to raise.

The lease agreement will let Cann Group cultivate, manufacture, warehouse and distribute medicinal cannabis.

Cann Group (ASX:CAN) over the past 12 months
Cann Group (ASX:CAN) over the past 12 months

Cann Group was the first Australian company to be issued with the Cannabis Research Licence and Medicinal Cannabis Licence by the Office of Drug Control in 2017.

In February it had licences for cultivation and production of cannabis for medicinal and research purposes renewed, allowing it to continue scaling up its production throughout this year.

The company’s share price is up 365 per cent over the past 12 months, sitting at $2.79 this morning. In the March quarter, the company did not generate any customer receipts and spent $1 million on operating costs, $744,000 of which went to production and manufacturing costs and administration and corporate costs.

At the end of March Cann had $82,400 in the kitty.

In a statement, Cann chief executive Peter Crock said securing the production site would help Cann Group scale to become a global cannabis player.

“As per our ongoing strategy, the facility provides Cann with the necessary scale to compete on the global stage in the medicinal cannabis sector,” Mr Crock said.

Here’s a table of ASX-listed cannabis stocks and their recent share price performance:

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