Cannabis Opportunities

100-year-old Norwalk hat factory seeking cannabis tenants

The building at 25 Van Zant St. in Norwalk has a storied history. It was built a century ago, in 1923, and housed a hat factory for years.

It was run down when Winthrop Baum bought it 40 years ago, but Baum hopes to give the building new life and a future as a center for all things cannabis.

“When Connecticut made it legal for cannabis, we thought this might be an opportunity for local entrepreneurs to utilize our facility,” Baum said.

After gaining a state-issued license, cannabis businesses must then seek suitable real estate. Baum believes he’s the first in Connecticut to go the other way and market available space to cannabis companies.

“It’s so rare and unique, and everything that we’re doing here is completely cannabis-forward,” said developer Catniss Locati. “We’re the most cannabis-forward building in the area in Norwalk.”

“Our entire business, our entire approach and focus is cannabis,” she said.

Renovations to the building have been made with cannabis-related tenants in mind. “He just spent the last six years and $22 million renovating this building so that cannabis can, all puns intended, grow here,” Locati said of Baum.

The insulation has been redoubled for energy efficiency, with the knowledge that cannabis cultivation requires extensive lighting. They installed 2,000 pieces of glass for custom-made windows. The roof has been redone to accommodate outdoor cultivation.

There’s room, Baum said, to accommodate a large-scale grower, which the state defines as a cultivation site larger than 10,000 square feet.

“We have that capacity,” Baum said. “Our building in total size is 265,000 square feet.”

Farming of some kind had been on Baum’s mind for years. Before the pandemic, before the state approved recreational cannabis, the former hat factory was designated as an urban farm.

“We made an application to grow microgreens three and a half, four years ago,” Baum said. “Then we were growing it for the restaurant industry. But then COVID hit, and we had to shut down that operation, but during that time, we had applied for urban farm status, and we were accepted.”

In addition to cultivation, Baum and Locati hope to attract any kind of cannabis related-business, including a smaller-scale cultivator, called a micro-cultivator, a cannabis food and beverage manufacturer or processor.

Norwalk has allowed for the possibility of three cannabis dispensaries, and Baum said he’s hoping one will be in the former hat factory.

“There’s nine categories of cannabis licensing,” he said. “We can accommodate virtually all licenses at our facility.”

Locati said they’ve had interest from one company seeking a space to do what she called “cannabis yoga.”

The building has been officially renamed “The Workforce Training Center 25 Van Zant Street,” and Baum and Locati said cannabis education is key for the building’s future.

“We are teaching educational classes here,” Locati said. “What is CBD? What is THC? Let’s talk about it.”

“You’ve got cannabis as a vehicle for training people to take on $100,000-plus-a-year jobs. This is cutting-edge farming,” Baum said. “You’ve got the ability to teach people how to do that. And that’s what we’re offering in this facility.”