LYNN — Eight businesses have been granted permission from the Lynn City Council to open recreational marijuana stores, but only one is currently operating.
For some businesses, it’s been years since they were granted their special permit from the City Council.
For example, Old World Remedies had its recreational marijuana license approved for 953 Western Ave. in 2017, and Lynn Organics/Natural Selection was given the green light to open on Oxford Street nearly two years ago.
Neither has opened, and for Old World Remedies, one of the first marijuana locations to receive approval, time may be running out.
Originally set for Sept. 1, the business now has until November to have its medical marijuana store ready for operations or the City Council will take action to revoke their permit, according to Ward 2 Councilor Rick Starbard, who chairs the council’s Recreational Cannabis Site Plan Review Committee.
“That particular dispensary was granted a medical license the same time Apothca was granted one on the Lynnway,” said Starbard, referring to the only medical and recreational marijuana store that has opened in the city.
“The building is unsightly. We repeatedly tell them that. They put over $1 million into that. In my business, we call that a total loss. We are keeping an eye on them. Councilor (Fred) Hogan and I will go down and visit them again.”
Starbard made his remarks during Tuesday evening’s Recreational Cannabis Site Plan Review Committee meeting, which provided city councilors a status update on where approved recreational cannabis establishments were in their permitting and construction buildout processes.
Due to time constraints, the panel only heard from representatives from two of the seven establishments that have received their special permits, but have yet to open stores at their approved locations.
“It’s been quite some time since some of these folks have been granted permission to build out dispensaries in the city of Lynn and so far, we still only have one in operation,” said Starbard.
Assistant City Solicitor James Lamanna said the city has received “three or four” responses from those seven companies, which provided varying timelines. Some have stated their intention to open early next year, he said, but “it doesn’t appear that any are imminent in the next few weeks.”
Lynn Organics attorney Mike Ross said his client was planning to open at 193 Oxford St. as early as January, but was still awaiting final approval from the Cannabis Control Commission.
Stephen Spinosa, vice president of operations for Good Chemistry of Massachusetts, said his company was planning to open at 696 Western Ave. in the second quarter of 2021.
Spinosa said the pandemic effectively shut them down in March, which was when they were planning to start construction. And they experienced further delays from trying to reopen safely amid ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, he said.
“We weathered the storm,” said Spinosa. “Fortunately, we made it and now we’re off to the races. Construction has begun.”
The other four recreational marijuana establishments that have yet to open in the city are Tree Market LLC at 100 Ford St.; Massachusetts Green Retail at 829 Boston St.; Essex Apothecary at 233 Western Ave.; and Diem at 211-217 Western Ave.
Apothca opened its medical store in 2018 and started operating its recreational part of the store a year later. This past August, Apothca grossed more than $1 million in sales, $60,000 of which will go to the city as part of their host agreement, according to Lamanna.
“There’s a market here,” said Lamanna. “The city received 6 percent of those gross profits so it’s in the city’s best interest and the applicant’s best interest to open as quickly as possible.”
“Hopefully these places open up,” Starbard added. “It does represent a lot of money.”
