TAUNTON – This summer, the Taunton Daily Gazette Rounded off where things stood with each of the city’s retail marijuana businesses. Almost six months later, not much has changed.
The Silver City, unlike its neighbors, still does not have a pottery store. And not a dime of Taunton’s 3% reduction in revenue from retail ganja hit the city coffers.
It’s still unclear which company will be the first to open its doors to the public, but one has a head start.
Commonwealth Alternative Care now has its final state license and is awaiting a final state inspection before it can retail weed.
So far, six retailers have obtained a retail license from the city, and only two more can be. Currently, only two other retail companies have active Host Community Agreements (HCAs) and are likely to become the last two companies to be licensed.
Commonwealth alternative care
Commonwealth Alternative Care was the first marijuana retail store to obtain a retail license from Taunton City Council in October 2019. And it appears to be the first pot retail store to open.
The store had already sold marijuana products to people with prescriptions since August 2018. Their location at 30 Mozzone Boulevard has been approved by the Council for Growing, Manufacturing, and Retailing.
Commonwealth Alternative Care told the city it received final approval from the state’s Cannabis Control Commission on November 18. This does not mean that they can open to retail, however.
The facility has yet to pass a final condition inspection. The company’s host community agreement was scheduled to expire on December 19. City councilors renewed it on Tuesday.
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Executives at the company’s Taunton site – Tyler Hoiland, director of retail, and David German, managing director – say they don’t have a specific date for the stores to open. However, the final state inspection can take up to two months, which would end that window in mid-January.
This summer, the company was criticized by city council because its parent company, TILT Holdings, allegedly mismanaged contracts and loans to its advantage and failed to properly disclose the information to CCC.
GTE Taunton
GTE Taunton is a dedicated retail marijuana store that will be located at 295 Broadway. The city granted it a conditional retail license on December 29, 2020, along with two other businesses. In July, the city council invited the GTE Taunton to file a renewal request. The company, which operates under the name “Botera”, has already opened branches in Brockton and Franklin. Its website says it plans to open in Taunton in the summer of 2022.
LMCC
LMCC, which stands for Local Motion Cannabis Company, is owned by Flavia Hungaro, Brazilian immigrant and social equity candidate. This was another business that was granted a provisional license on December 29, 2020 and will be located at 93 County St.
Originally, the company was looking to open at 354 Winthrop St., but its HCA for that location was revoked in November 2019. Hungaro then found the location on County Street and continued to open there.
Hungaro is also applying for a license to grow, manufacture and deliver marijuana products at 30 Sherwood Drive in Taunton. She has an HCA for this business and got a special permit in August.
HTC Trinity
HTC Trinity was the third marijuana retail company to be granted a provisional license by city council on December 29, 2020. It is owned by social equity claimant and real estate broker Kyra Fernandez.
After LMCC decided to move its location to County Street, Fernandez was put on the possibility of opening a marijuana store at 354 Winthrop St., and was successful in gaining approval to open there.
Fernandez also continues to grow, manufacture and deliver. His HCA for this was approved by city council in May.
However, construction on the 354 Winthrop St. site is on hold. A foundation has been poured and walls erected, but there is a dispute with the city over work being done without a permit.
Mass Medicum
Mass Medicum has been approved for a city retail license at 30 Revolutionary Drive. It was approved on March 30 of this year, along with another company, and is only approved for retail sale. Mass Medicum plans to make potted products in Holbrook.
Taunton Tree Market
Tree Market Taunton is the other retail business that got its license on March 30. It will be located at 9 Cape Road. City councilors renewed the permit in July.
Retail marijuana seekers with HCA
SAN Fund – SAN Holdings is a retail company that first obtained its HCA in June 2019, but was renewed with changes in May of this year. It was originally supposed to be located at 98 County Street, but has since moved to 0 Hart Street. City Councilor Don Cleary said it was a terrible place, considering it is near the Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical School. Their HCA expires on June 13, 2022. It is also applying for a growing license for which an HCA was approved in October 2020.
Herbal logic – Herbal Logic is a retail-only company reportedly located at 284 R Winthrop St. It received an HCA on June 22 of this year in a 5 to 4 city council vote. Controversy around when to approve has rocked Taunton’s policy this summer, as Herbal Logic is backed by Philip Nessralla, the longtime former lawyer for the Town of Brockton. Haskell Kennedy, a social equity claimant from Brockton, alleged town officials used an unfair process to exclude him from what was, at the time, the town’s last HCA. The city council changed its procedure following the dispute.
Rejected retail marijuana companies
Bask Inc. – Bask Inc., a Fairhaven-based marijuana company, originally applied to open at 400 Winthrop St., but after arguments and legal battles with city council over their location, were unable to get their HCAs renewed. through the board in February. He has since opened his Fairhaven store and continues to advertise on his website for a future Taunton location at 400 Winthrop St. That’s within 2,000 feet of HTC’s under construction facility.
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The company still has a special permit which was ordered by the land court in January, but given the reluctance of the city council to renew its HCA, it seems doubtful that it will ever get a permit from the city without legal intervention. .
Green world – Retailer Green World first got an approved HCA in April 2019 and an amendment was approved in March 2020. But since then its HCA has expired and has not been renewed. It has been proposed that it be located at 344 Winthrop St.
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