Simsbury medical marijuana producer Curaleaf Connecticut has nearly doubled its footprint at a 60,000-square-foot facility in town.
Curaleaf, one of the state’s four licensed cannabis growers, spent more than $10 million in recent months to renovate its new facility at 34 Hopmeadow St., according to Greg Schaan, Curaleaf’s senior vice president of cultivation. The building was previously the customer-service center for electric utility Eversource.
Curaleaf, headquartered in Wakefield, Mass., previously occupied roughly 32,000 square feet at 100 Grist Mill. The company, which employs nearly 60 staffers, unveiled its newly leased space on Tuesday.
Split between two buildings, its expanded operation was designed to better streamline Curaleaf’s operation from cultivation to packaging, said Curaleaf Connecticut President Nicole Leja.
The Hopmeadow Street facility, she said, also has more storage and office space, a larger breakroom, and is equipped with a new HVAC system meant for indoor growing operations. It also has an automated irrigation system, eliminating the need for hand watering.
“We’re excited to be in this new space and we are happy to still be in Simsbury,” said Leja, who has been steadily increasing Curaleaf Connecticut’s workforce since succeeding Shaan.
Curaleaf has hired eight employees since HBJ last fall profiled how the company plays a larger role in expanding Connecticut’s medical marijuana workforce.
Gov. Ned Lamont has filed a bill to legalize recreational marijuana, which would dramatically impact the state’s marijuana industry and commercial real estate market.
Leja told HBJ that Curaleaf’s new production facility is big enough to expand if the state legalizes recreational marijuana and authorizes the company to sell to adult consumers.
“We would definitely want to be a part of that should Connecticut go adult use,” she said.
The state’s other pot growers include Watertown’s Theraplant LLC, CT Pharmaceutical Solutions, which is relocating from Portland to Rocky Hill, and Advanced Grow Labs in West Haven.
There are currently 39,995 patients registered in Connecticut’s medical-marijuana program. The state’s medical marijuana program was approved by state lawmakers in 2012.
