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September 30, 2022

Cannabis grow facility approved at former Hartford Courant warehouse property

CoStar 121 Wawarme Ave., Hartford.
By Skyler Frazer

Plans to turn a former Hartford Courant distribution warehouse into a cannabis cultivation business are moving forward after receiving approvals from the city.

The Hartford Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a special permit to allow River Growers CT to open a grow facility at 121 Wawarme Ave.

Arlanda Brantley is a principal of River Growers CT. Brantley won a special permit from the Planning and Zoning Commission to open the facility, pending final licensing from the state Department of Consumer Protection.

Brantley’s River Growers CT was one of 16 companies to have its social equity status approved by the Social Equity Council in July. The state Department of Consumer Protection is now doing final background checks on the business before potentially issuing a provisional license.

The property at 121 Wawarme Ave. contains a large, 140,000-square-foot warehouse that was previously used by the Hartford Courant as a newspaper distribution center. That’s where Brantley is proposing the 128,000-square-foot grow operation.

According to plans, the operational buildout will be completed in several phases. Phase one will consist of building approximately 30,000 square feet of cultivation space and 5,000 square feet of manufacturing space.

Three to five additional phases will consist of 25,000 to 35,000 square feet of additional cultivation space over the following 24 months.

A 12,000 fleet vehicle facility also sits on the property to the south along East Elliot Street, but the proposed cannabis business won’t use that section of the parcel.

In the application, Seeman wrote that “River Growers is committed to providing jobs to members of the local community” and will focus on hiring and supporting those in re-entry programs.

Per the application, no changes are proposed to the site or exterior of the building.

Brantley has a long history of community activism in Waterbury. She has been an active member of the Waterbury NAACP, including having served as an adviser to the Waterbury Pride NAACP Youth Council. More recently, she founded BLACK WOMEN United Waterbury, a group dedicated to uniting women and empowering, educating, motivating, elevating and encouraging fitness, health and wellness.

The Hartford Courant’s former distribution and insertion warehouse sold for $2.1 million in 2021, according to city records. The buyer was New Milford-based HMC Real Estate Partners, which invests in industrial properties in the Northeast.

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