A New Haven hybrid medical and recreational cannabis retailer is seeking to move to a bigger location in the city.
Affinity Health & Wellness Inc. is seeking a special permit to operate a hybrid cannabis retail facility at 130 Amity Rd., in the Amity Shopping Center.
The City Plan Commission is scheduled to host a public hearing on the application at its meeting Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 6 p.m.
The location is in a commercial retail shopping center on 14.5 acres. It has retail buildings of about 170,000 square feet, plus pad sites for retail, banking and dining. It has several existing tenants, such as Stop & Shop supermarket and Dollar Tree. The property is owned by Wellmakara LLC.
Affinity would like to rent a unit in the shopping plaza of approximately 7,425 square feet.
Affinity currently has a retail operation at 1351 Whalley Ave. in New Haven. It had already been selling medical cannabis and was among several statewide which began selling recreational marijuana when the state made it legal to do so in January.
Pharmacist Ray Pantalena, principal of Affinity Health & Wellness, said Friday the plan is to move out of the Whalley Avenue location to the bigger space.
“We wanted to stay in the same general vicinity,” Pantalena said. “We want to expand and have a bigger store, a larger back office and expanded parking.”
The application to the City Plan Commission notes that Pantalena has owned and operated his existing operation since 2019 without incident, and is “an experienced operator.”
The new retail location would have a security system featuring a vault, cameras and motion sensors, the application shows.
Adult-use recreational marijuana sales began on Jan. 10 in Connecticut. The state Department of Consumer Protection announced Friday that new preliminary data shows combined sales for adult-use cannabis and medical marijuana totaled more than $13.3 million between Jan. 10 and Jan. 31. During that time frame, the adult-use market recorded $5.1 million in sales, while the medical marijuana market recorded $8.2 million in sales.
“The first week was very busy, and now the numbers have dropped off and settled down to a normal, nice and steady pace,” Pantalena said.
The Affinity application is available on the City Plan Commission’s website. Written testimony may be submitted to City Plan staff 24 hours in advance of the meeting, which is taking place via Zoom.
Contact Michelle Tuccitto Sullo at msullo@newhavenbiz.com.
