The end of this month, and the end of next year.
Those are the dates when investors in Kewanee’s cannabis dispensary and grow facility are hoping their businesses can open.
Extensive remodeling has been done on the former Broken Chimney restaurant building on Tenney Street to turn it into a cannabis dispensary.
One of the investors in the dispensary and grow facility, Chad Anderson, said last week that the final step before the dispensary can open is a state inspection of the premises. Anderson said he hopes that can be completed by the end of this month.
One of the final steps in the transformation of the building into a dispensary, he said, was applying a tint to all of the exterior windows which prevents anyone from looking into the dispensary from outdoors.
The parking lot has been resurfaced and striped, and the security equipment needed for the dispensary has been installed.
The grow facility at the northeast corner of Cole Street and Kentville Road is going up. Anderson said the concrete foundation has been poured and plumbing has been installed, and construction of the walls has begun.
The building should be enclosed by the end of this year, Anderson said, and the facility should be ready to operate by the end of 2026.
He said the grow facility will provide cannabis to be sold at the dispensary. But state law says no more than 60 percent of the cannabis sold here can come from the local grow facility, Anderson said.
The rest will be purchased from other legal growers in Illinois. And the Kewanee grow facility will sell much of its production to other Illinois dispensaries.
The investors had hoped to have the dispensary open by the beginning of summer but delays were encountered.
“It’s just been a slow process,” Anderson said, “but we’re getting there.”
