A piece of land in Buffalo's Lakeside Commerce Park is filled with overgrown grass, but could someday be home to grass of another kind.

Flora Buffalo wants to build a $200 million, privately-funded cannabis campus there to grow and research recreational and medical marijuana, and now the company is giving a look at what it has planned.

"This is an opportunity to continue and evolve Buffalo's legacy as a manufacturing great," said Flora Buffalo Spokesperson Imani Dawson.

The California-based company agreed to buy the land off Route 5 from the Buffalo Urban Development Corporation last month for $1.9 million. Flora Buffalo is led by Buffalo native Brad Termini, son of developer Rocco Termini.

Thursday, the firm put out a promotional video to begin showing its ideas for the industry and the proposed 1.25 million sq. ft. complex.

"Research, technology, education, community reinvestment, business and incubating small businesses," are some of the company's goals according to Dawson.

Flora Buffalo has promised 500 to 1000 jobs with 75 percent of them in Buffalo. They say they'll use at least 25 percent minority-owned construction firms. They're also partnering with SUNY Erie for training in the cannabis industry and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center for medical research.

"There is a potential for really high-paying jobs here. So we're talking about cultivators, we're talking about master growers, we're talking about lab technicians," Dawson said.

But there's one big catch: before they put a shovel in the ground, New York State would first have to legalize the use of recreational marijuana. Governor Cuomo has made it a priority this year, and there's growing belief it could be passed in the state legislature. Flora Buffalo is confident that historic move is "imminent."

"Our country has changed. Popular thought around cannabis has changed and that this is an industry whose time has come," Dawson said.

Flora Buffalo also plans to hold public information meetings about its vision for the cannabis campus. The first is for February 20, with a specific location to be determined.