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Jefferson-affiliated marijuana dispensary to open in Center City Philadelphia

Solterra Care, Pennsylvania's first hospital-affiliated marijuana dispensary will open at 8th and Locust streets.

Solterra Care, the first of Pa. medical marijuana dispensary affiliated with a major health system, is slated to open in early Fall at 809 Locust Street, in the city's Washington Square West neighborhood.
Solterra Care, the first of Pa. medical marijuana dispensary affiliated with a major health system, is slated to open in early Fall at 809 Locust Street, in the city's Washington Square West neighborhood.Read moreSam Wood/ Staff (custom credit)
    by Sam Wood
    Published 

The first medical marijuana dispensary to be affiliated with a major Pennsylvania health system is slated to open this Fall in one of Philadelphia’s most historic neighborhoods.

Solterra Care received zoning approval in late May for a 4,400 square foot facility at 809 Locust Street, a block west of Washington Square.

In late June, Solterra’s parent company, MLH Explorations LLC, won a highly-coveted permit to partner with the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. The so-called Clinical Research permit — one of only three awarded by the state — also will allow MLH to grow and process marijuana on the site of a former U.S. Steel Plant in Fairless Hills, in Bucks County.

The Locust Street dispensary — at the former Mazzoni Center and less than a block from Jefferson’s main campus — is ideally positioned to serve patients, physicians, and research scientists at the health system and university, said David Clapper, the CEO of MLH and a principal at Mainline Investment Partners in Wynnewood.

The retail storefront will be housed at street level in the building which is known formally as American Postal Workers House. An adjacent space, with a separate entrance, will serve as an education center for doctors, patients, and prospective patients, Clapper said. Upgrading the space is expected to cost at least $800,000, according to documents filed with the city.

MLH’s clinical research permit will allow it to open five additional research-oriented dispensaries throughout the state. Clapper said. MLH is scouting locations for those dispensaries.

MLH Expolorations is owned by MLH Holdings LLC, which includes as principals the Jefferson’s former chairman of the board, William Landman, and the chief financial officer of Pepsi & National Brand Beverages, Jeff Cook.