S.F. mall says no to pot-laced chocolate bars
San Francisco cannabis users hoping to pick up some pot-laced chocolate bars while holiday shopping at the mall may be out of luck.
Four months after submitting a planning application to locate a 1,000-square-foot shop selling cannabis-infused chocolate in the downtown Westfield San Francisco Centre, the mall owner says it is no longer interested in having the weed confectionery, Défoncé Chocolatier, move in.
Westfield, which owns the 1.5-million-squarefoot retail, dining and movie complex on the 800 block of Market Street, contacted the city’s Planning Department late Thursday and informed officials that “negotiations with
Défoncé have stopped and there is no lease on the proposed space,” planning spokeswoman Gina Simi said.
Westfield also requested an Oct. 26 Planning Commission hearing on the store be canceled.
In a statement, Westfield said it had decided not to lease space to any cannabis-related tenants.
“Unless federal law permits the sale of cannabis products, Westfield will not lease to this type of tenant at any center it operates,” the company said.
Défoncé CEO Eric Eslao said the company would focus on other locations in the city.
“While we’re disappointed not to be moving forward with our proposed Westfield location, we are actively exploring alternative locations in San Francisco and look forward to continuing discussions with the city,” Eslao said.
Westfield owns 15 shopping centers in California, where voters legalized medical cannabis in 1996 and adult recreational use in 2016. Some form of marijuana is legal in 29 states but it is still illegal under federal law.
Last spring the mall signed a letter of intent to lease a third-floor space to Défoncé, a San Jose company. In the conditional-use application on file at the Planning Department, Défoncé says “our partnership with Westfield Shopping Centre” would focus on “providing low-dose, high-quality cannabis products designed for the responsible and safe consumption by adults.”
The deal was noteworthy because it would have been the first time a major class-A shopping mall owner had leased space to a cannabis business. Most institutional real estate owners won’t lease space to them out of fear of running afoul of federal regulators. And banks won’t lend on properties with cannabis-related businesses on the rent roll.
Alf Nucifora, chairman of the Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco, said he’s not surprised that Westfield backed out.
“I can see where Westfield is coming from,” he said. “You’ve got banking issues. You’ve got IRS issues. But the reality is that at a certain point, some mall owner is going to jump in and say ‘it’s OK’ and, once that happens, the floodgates will open.”