Budding pot business ready to open in Aurora

AURORA | A vacant, peeling pink strip mall that sits at a busy intersection off of Parker Road and East Yale Avenue could soon be home to a craft coffee shop or a funky pizza parlor if Tim Cullen has anything to do with it.

Cullen is spending over $1 million as the new property owner to renovate the eyesore that includes faded sign and window displays as well as faux bricks that dangle precariously from an awning. He also plans to convert one of the units into a high-end retail cannabis store, replete with a steampunk aesthetic, custom wood cabinetry and concrete floors.

“We would like it to be the anchor of the strip center,” he said. Cullen, who already owns two retail cannabis shops in the state, said he doesn’t plan for this space to be open for business earlier than December with all the work that needs to be done.

Denver Westword bloggers reported yesterday that two Aurora stores will open next week,  Euflora, 6260 S. Gun Club Road , and Terrapin Care Station, 11900 East 33rd Ave.

What Cullen shares in common with 12 other marijuana businesses that were awarded licenses to operate in Aurora earlier this year, is that he was not ready to open for business by Oct. 1, the first day recreational marijuana sales were allowed in the city.

Jason Batchelor, Aurora’s director of finance, said city officials expected it would take longer for the stores to open in Aurora. He said most of the stores are moving into older buildings that are being repurposed, and the owners are also working to meet stringent requirements imposed by the city that include installing enhanced filtration and security systems. 

“Of the 21 licenses we’ve awarded, each have their own circumstances,” he said. “For instance, two of the new stores are under construction. Those are going to have a longer process. For the remaining ones, in some of the buildings there might be existing tenants they need to help relocate. Others require more significant renovations. That’s obviously a big undertaking.”

Euflora co-owner Jamie Perino had hoped to open her new store in a former bank in southeast Aurora by the time sales were allowed. Now she is planning for the third week in October. She said the delay resulted from waiting for a new filtration system to be installed and a few requests city staff had asked her implement.

“They wanted carbon filters to mitigate the smell of marijuana,” she said.

Perino’s store, which she describes as “the Apple store of cannabis”  will likely be the first to sell marijuana in Aurora. Perino said she lucked out with the former Bank of the West location.

“The building really was ready to go. We had to do no build out whatsoever,” she said.

For that prime location, of which there are few in southeast Aurora, Perino said she spent well over $1 million and purchased the bank, a deal she couldn’t negate even if she didn’t receive a license.

“We are right now the only store that actually has a license in Ward VI,” she said. 

That’s not the case for stores located in central and north Aurora, where older strip malls, like the one Cullen is renovating, dominate the landscape. Gayle Jetchick, executive director of the Havana Business Improvement District, said she’s not surprised that the two retail marijuana stores set to open along Havana Street aren’t ready yet.

“The city awarded the licenses at the end of August and it takes more than a month to get through the City of Aurora permitting and building approval process,” she said. “Even the shops going in at existing building are having to remove walls and reconfigure the interiors of the buildings, which require lots of building inspections. It’s no surprise that they are not open.”

Denver started its first day of recreational marijuana sales last January with 18 shops open for business the first day sales were allowed in the state. All of those stores were already selling medical marijuana and just needed to comply with new regulations for recreational sales. That required separating the medical inventory from the recreational inventory. 

“If they served medical marijuana to patients 21 and older, they just needed to make sure their different point of sale and tracking systems were in place. In Aurora, everybody is starting from the ground up,”said Meg Collins, executive director of Colorado’s Cannabis Business Alliance. 

Brian Ruden, who is in the process of opening his cannabis shop in a former convenience store at Del Mar Circle and East Colfax Avenue, said he wasn’t pleased when the city required him to take down a bright white banner for the new business. City of Aurora spokeswoman Julie Patterson said Ruden’s store falls in a pedestrian district that does not allow even temporary banners as part of its design standards.

He was hoping to open his store by mid-October, but said the city is first requiring him to completely redo the parking lot, reface the entire building, build trash enclosures and install landscaping on the side of the building.  “I was planning on doing most of those things anyway. My intention was to build out the store first, open, and over the next few months, get those other projects done,” he said.

He’s now not sure when he’ll open for business, but said he’s working with the city on completing the renovations.

“I don’t mind the expense. What I mind is the delay,” he said.