Michigan Report: Ascend Wellness Gets Closer To Opening Cannabis Shop In East Lansing

Plans to open a recreational cannabis shop and medical dispensary at the former Sawyers Pontiac dealership in East Lansing received city planners' support this week, reported the Lansing State Journal.

At a recent meeting, the city’s planning commission waived its second hearing requirement and unanimously approved a recommendation to grant a special use permit for an adult-use marijuana retail establishment at 1415 E. Michigan Ave.

The hearing waiver, requested by a company representative so the business, Ascend Wellness Holdings AAWH AAWH, could move forward with getting final approval from City Council, obtaining its state license and a grand opening. City Council previously approved a special use permit for a medical marijuana dispensary at the site.

“So part of the reasoning behind [the request] was we're very close to opening, I believe in the next two to three weeks from when we do our final punch list walkthroughs and then request a state inspection,” said Lucas Hoefflicker, Ascend's director of strategy.

Ascend Wellness already has marijuana retail locations in Detroit, Grand Rapids and Battle Creek, Michigan, Benzinga's home state.

Hoefflicker said at the meeting that company officials hope they can request the adult-use inspection at the same time as the medical inspection, otherwise, inspections would be weeks apart with the product sold in the store the only difference.

The East Lansing site is 4.67 acres. City Council approved the site plan and medical marijuana special use permit in 2019.

The project included demolishing the 22,537-square-foot Sawyers Pontiac dealership building. The 3,553-square-foot accessory building, formerly the used cars sales building, is being renovated as a provisioning center, according to planning commission documents.

The total project cost is about $2.1 million, according to court documents.

The proposed use of the property is not anticipated to have an impact on the economic value of adjacent properties or East Lansing as a whole, according to documents.