January 19 saw the soft opening of Catalyst on Convoy Street in Kearny Mesa. CEO Elliot Lewis was proudly showing his new storefront, and why not: the Kearny Mesa location is the 30th.
But what few expected, the tour would expand onto the floor above. Having bought the building, Lewis decided to open up the space and launch San Diego’s first cannabis hub workspace. With room for about a dozen tenants -Lewis was literally taping the floors to designate available spaces – the notion of bringing together a hub of cannabis business came together.
Lewis told the San Diego Cannabis Times “Look, San Diego is a thriving market. Brands based elsewhere – say Sacramento or the Bay Area – have tons of reps here. This would provide a space for product activations, satellite sales offices and the like.” Lewis went on to add an additional tenant perk: “Plus they’ll have access to our budtenders. The first tenant – Los Angeles-based ProPen – has already sold a ton in our shop in just the first few days!”
ProPen CEO Vincent Allocco said the space allows for presentations for its EZONE Collab Battery and apparel product lines. “We can do a lot with this set up. Product Activations, Budtender trainings – there’s some stuff we can’t do here – but San Diego’s market growth is obvious and in our case, requires a dedicated team based here.”
When asked about the immediate networking opportunities from his neighbors, Allocco said “The dynamic between the tenants will surely bring about collaborations, strategy brainstorming, and there’s a bunch of budtenders one floor down to bounce ideas off.”
Each space will be approximately 800 sq feet and rent is “a couple thousand a month” according to Lewis.
See also: Escondido Mayor to Form Exploratory Cannabis Committee