Top Grass cannabis dispensary opens in Bellport a year after owners get state license

Top Grass in Bellport is the latest cannabis dispensary to open on Long Island, as the region's recreational marijuana industry slowly grows.

Co-founders Pavandip Singh and Usman Whyen opened their first dispensary in a 3,700-square-foot space at 28 Sawgrass Dr. on Friday, one year after the duo received a state license to operate, according to state data. 

Long Island’s cannabis industry has lagged behind the rest of the state and New York City amid ongoing legal disputes over where dispensaries are allowed to open and a complex approval process. Those that are open rake in millions of dollars in revenue on the Island, with local municipalities taking in millions in tax revenue, Newsday reported.

Singh, a New York City general contractor, said he’s hired 11 employees to run the business, which includes a model train that ferries samples of marijuana under a microscope so customers can examine it.

While other dispensaries have found the permitting process labyrinthian, Singh said his background in New York City construction helped him navigate the process.

“I come from a New York City Department of Buildings background and they’re tough,” Singh said. “The only thing the Town of Brookhaven is looking for is that you’re doing the right thing.”

Top Grass received its certificate of occupancy from the Town of Brookhaven on June 1, according to permits the company shared with Newsday.

Singh bought the roughly 12,000-square-foot building on Sawgrass Drive in September, he said. He paid $2.7 million for the property just a few months after the state issued his and Whyen’s business, PSUW LLC, a license in July, according to property records and state data.

But their plans for a dispensary date to 2022, when the duo partnered with two other investors, Surinder Sandhu and Ravinder Singh, to open a dispensary. Those investors are no longer involved, according to a representative for Top Grass.

The separation followed a lawsuit where Pavandip Singh and Whyen accused Sandhu and Ravinder Singh of blocking them from certain retail locations to eliminate competition for Strain Stars — Long Island’s first cannabis dispensary — where Ravinder Singh’s children serve as shareholders, according to court filings. In response, Sandhu and Ravinder Singh claimed Pavandip Singh and Whyen stalled the search, according to court filings.

The dispute was settled out of court. Reached by phone Monday evening, Sandhu said he was not involved in Top Grass and declined to comment further.

Kenneth Kutner, an attorney for Sandhu and Ravinder Singh, declined to comment on the settlement.

Whyen declined to comment.

Slow rollout

A handful of other cannabis dispensaries have opened on Long Island, with their permitting process ranging from six months to more than a year, Newsday reported.

Gahrey Ovalle, president of the Brentwood-based Long Island Cannabis Coalition, said those delays come from stigma against the industry and a difficult permitting process.

“We continue to implore and ask the towns to treat this just like a regular industry,” Ovalle said.

Meanwhile in New York City, hundreds of dispensaries have opened since the state legalized recreational marijuana use in 2021, according to state data. In Manhattan, the market is so saturated “it’s getting extremely difficult” to find space, said Daniel Tropp, president of the Westchester-based commercial real estate brokerage AEBOV, which mostly focuses on cannabis businesses.

Long Island’s cannabis sector likely will expand further in the years to come as more retailers make it through the lengthy permitting process, Ovalle said.

While only four towns in Suffolk County opted into allowing cannabis retailers to operate, towns in Nassau County could later choose to opt into the state’s legal licensing program, said Martha Reichert, a land use attorney at Twomey, Latham, Shea, Kelley, Dubin & Quartararo.

“This is a growth industry and it looks like it’s here to stay,” Reichert said.