FREETOWN -- Construction is scheduled to begin Sept. 25 on a nearly 1-million-square-foot cannabis campus in this Bristol County town.

"We know that there is a tidal wave of demand for cannabis in Massachusetts," CEO Tim Keogh of AmeriCann Inc. said in a phone interview Monday.

The Denver, Colorado-based company handles consulting, design, construction and financing for marijuana businesses.

The plan is for the 987,000-square-foot campus to cover 52 acres and have numerous tenants employing 300 to 400 people, Keogh said.

A groundbreaking will be held to mark the onset of construction of the Massachusetts Medical Cannabis Center's first, $6 million phase at 11 a.m. at 7 Campanelli Drive in the village of Assonet, officials said.

The first phase is a 30,000 square foot building to be occupied by BASK Inc., a medical marijuana facility in Fairhaven, Keogh said.

The BASK facility should be ready by May. Construction is scheduled to begin on the second building in January, he said.

The campus will include facilities for research, training, laboratory testing, manufacturing, packaging and administration, officials said.

"Think of it like a campus where we'll have up to seven or eight different businesses operating on the property," Keogh said.

More construction will occur over the next two to three years, but the ultimate cost of the campus and timeline of additional tenants were uncertain, he said.

AmeriCann has worked well with the town of Freetown, "a very business friendly community," he said.

"They get it, and they really are excited about seeing the infrastructure and jobs," Keogh said.

A press release referred to the campus as a "sustainable greenhouse facility." It will take advantage of growing plants under natural sunlight instead of indoors under artificial lights, with the goal of producing healthier plants, the press release said.

AmeriCann's plan is to open similar cannabis campuses in states that have legalized marijuana for medical and recreational use, the press release said.