Miami cannabis company proposes 64,000-square-foot Connecticut cultivation center
A Florida-based company is looking for permission to build a 64,000-square-foot cannabis-growing center in the southern end of Bloomfield only blocks from the Hartford line.
AYR Wellness operates dispensaries in six states, and wants to make its Connecticut debut with its own cultivation center at 101 Granby St.
The company would use a nearly 8-acre property at the corner of Tobey Road. It’s mostly an overgrown field that’s fenced off from the street. Town documents list the property’s owner as Granby Tobey LLC and its most recent assessment as $215,000.
The tract is currently zoned for industrial use, and AYR contends that a cannabis-growing operation would benefit the town.
The company will lay out details of its proposal at a Town Plan and Zoning Commission hearing Thursday evening at 7 p.m. The public will can take part in the meeting on Zoom and will get to give opinions about the plan.
AYR is applying for a special zoning permit to build what would be its first business unit in the state. The company currently has operations in Nevada, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland and Florida.
In January, Bloomfield gave permission to Fine Fettle to construct a nearly 46,000-square-foot cultivation center on former farmland along Mosey Road, close to Home Depot. Fine Fettle plans to have 40 to 90 workers spread through various shifts. It will begin with 67 parking spaces, but has designated room for as many as 31 more if business justifies further hiring.
The Fine Fettle jobs will including cultivation technicians and assistants, lab scientists, chemists, security staff and more. ”
AYR said it will have 75 employees working daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. All of its operation will be cultivation; there will be no public sales there.
The company operates a total of 18 cultivation and production facilities around the country, totaling more than 1.2 million square feet. It also runs 83 retail outlets, and said it employs a total of 2,400 employees among all of its facilities.
“An integral part of its business model is to act as ‘a force for good in the communities [it] serves’ through initiatives related to restorative justice, equity and inclusion, and hyperlocal service,” the company wrote in its Bloomfield application. “In redeveloping this property, the applicant is seeking to make a long-term financial investment in the property and the overall community of Bloomfield.”
Earlier this year, AYR sold its Arizona business, which included three dispensaries in Greater Phoenix along with an 80,000-square-foot cultivation center in Phoenix and a 10,000-square-foot cultivation and processing center in Chandler.
“We believe our ongoing initiatives to grow our Florida footprint, improve operations in New Jersey, and build out retail footprints in Ohio, Illinois, and Connecticut will enable us to accelerate growth in the quarters ahead,” Chief Executive Officer David Goubert said in a corporate statement last week.
The company describes itself as selling consumer-packaged brands including Kynd, Origyn Extracts, Levia, STiX Preroll, Secret Orchard and Entourage, among others. AYR distributes and markets its products to AYR-owned dispensaries as well as to licensed third-party retail cannabis shops through its operating area.
AYR said its Bloomfield operation will have numerous controls to prevent unwanted odors reaching nearby neighbors.
“The grow rooms will contain a closed-loop HVAC system that prevents any air from leaking to the outside. Other means of odor control include MERV13 filters in the air handlers, air scrubbers across the facility, and carbon filters in all of the exhaust vents,” it said.
