Cal Verde Naturals Presents Updated Plans For Waltham Dispensary

WALTHAM, MA — A new adult-use cannabis dispensary could soon be coming to Waltham, but not quite yet.

At Monday's City Council meeting, one-half of the Cal Verde Naturals ownership group, Steve Tomasello, shared plans for a new Main Street dispensary.

The company already has two provisional licenses in the state, with one in Marlborough and the other in Belmont. Steve Tomasello estimated that the Belmont location will open in April.

As he explained, Cal Verde's brand is "high-end," and the company is woman-owned. Tomasello is the vice president, while Kelly Tomasello, his wife, operates as the CEO and a third partner, Emma Thurston, is the COO.

The property they're hoping to open a dispensary in sits at 1250 Main Street or, as the attorney pointed out, near Steve's Pizza. A zoning oddity on the lot features a residential zone line that runs through the property, however, no portion of the dispensary's plans include using any of that portion of the property.

Cal Verde plans to demolish the current building on the property and design their store from the ground up, Tomasello said.

The company's Director of Security, Mike Allen, told councilors that he'd been involved in the build-out of over 25 dispensaries in Massachusetts, as well as numerous other projects in states on the east coast.

He called the Cal Verde security system "best in class", and said he used his history in law enforcement as a backbone for the security plans for the potential Waltham store.

Now, Waltham readers may already be familiar with Cal Verde, as the company has been in talks with Waltham for at least a year. They've already hosted a community meeting and, at the request of council Paul Katz, will likely host another.

Katz made the motion because, in the time between the last meeting and now, some of the plans presented to the board have changed. Tomasello said he would be willing to hold another meeting.

There will also be a continuation of the public meeting on this topic, as the council voted to keep the meeting open until the next full meeting of the City Council.

Watch the full meeting below: