CHESTERVILLE, Ont. - An Ontario office furniture supplier is taking the concept of diversification to a new level.

Office furniture installation and project management firm IDP Group Inc. has entered into a strategic alliance with Cannabis Wheaton Income Corp. for the formation of CannabisCo. Plans call to run the new subsidiary out of IDP's 373,000-square-foot facility, located on 60 acres in Chesterville, Ontario.

A statement from Wheaton (TSX.V:CBW)  said the company will provide IDP and its partner HMT Solutions, with $12 million in funding to assist with Phase 1 construction of a 100,000-square-foot cultivation space on the property. Wheaton has the option to fund an additional two 100,000 square foot expansion phases, which would increase the overall facility cultivation footprint to 300,000 square feet.

IDP purchased the former Nestle Canada facility in 2015, according to reports. IDP's website shows the company supplies furniture and systems from manufacturers including Teknion, Herman Miller, Global, Knoll, Lacasse, Allsteel, Steelcase, Haworth and HumanScale, along with inventory control and warehousing services. IDP is also involved in modular farming systems and technologies, as well as LED lighting. Its alliance partner HMT specializes in storage tanks and systems.

Hamed Asl, a partner at IDP Group said, “When Nestle left Chesterville 12 years ago, the city lost nearly 300 jobs and we aim to bringing back economic activity to the region. This project is a tremendous opportunity for all stakeholders involved while also providing exposure for our modular farming system and other proprietary technologies, which we believe have the potential to enhance the value of Wheaton and its streaming partners.”

Once running, CannabisCo will participate in the Wheaton Licensing Program. Wheaton will also receive a minority equity interest in CannabisCo and a perpetual stream of 30 percent of all cannabis and cannabis-derived products including any cannabis trim, produced at the facility. Phase 1 is projected to yield 7.5 million grams of cannabis per year,

“The partnership with IDP is a fantastic addition to the Cannabis Wheaton platform as Hamed and the team bring years of complementary skills and technology to this project," said Chuck Rifici, Wheaton Income chairman and CEO. "We also look forward to implementing their proprietary vertical cultivation system and custom-made fabricated LED lighting systems that we believe can set new standards for yields per square foot and operating cash costs per gram for indoor cultivation. We believe this to be an exciting and an accretive deal for both parties.”