Downtown Port Huron's next business could be a marijuana shop. Find out more.
A third location is moving ahead with plans to open up a marijuana business in Port Huron – this time downtown.
JARS Cannabis has an application for a special use permit at 404 Quay St., also known as 104 Huron Ave., for a marijuana retail shop before the city’s planning commission on Tuesday. It follows two others that sought approvals this spring off Pine Grove Avenue and River Street.
The commercial space at the corner of Quay and Huron has been empty for over a year amid renovations under owners Harrison Investment Properties LLC, whose proprietors are redeveloping the block, including the opening of Bootleggers Axe Co. this summer, and also own Wings Etc. It was previously occupied by Salon PiZazz!
Under the special use application, renderings show the JARS shop would feature a small but sleek, neutrally-colored setup with the reception area and entrance off Quay Street slightly east of Huron with the retail space at the corner and an assortment of vault storage and staff areas.
It wasn’t clear when the marijuana shop would be open.
Quay Street developer Gene Harrison didn’t return messages seeking comment late last week and early Monday.
However, this spring, he and his son, Robert Harrison, said they’d hoped to open the cannabis shop by this month. In May, Gene said once permitted, it was “probably within six weeks of being finished.”
The listed special use applicant Lisa Dawdy, of JARS, said, “Until we have a permit, I don’t know what that construction timeline would look like,” forwarding comment to other JARS officials.
A JARS spokesperson who reached out to the Times Herald didn’t immediately respond Monday.
This cannabis shop project, as well as the two others that have already gone before planning commissioners, are moving forward after litigation in 2021 pressed pause on the formal issuance of provisional licenses from the city. In a lawsuit contesting the scoring used to award them, a St. Clair County Circuit Court ruling this winter sided with the city. And while the case is being appealed, local licensees are allowed to move forward with projects.
JARS itself was not the provisional licensee approved for that property at Quay and Huron by the city – that went to Green Cultivation – but under the ordinance approved by voters in 2020, license holders are able to transfer that license to a different entity if they notify the city clerk.
They can also be transferred to another location with written approval of the clerk.
Originally, JARS applied unsuccessfully for retail and provisioning licenses at the addresses 3550 Electric Ave. and 3944 24th Ave. The latter is a small commercial strip neighboring the DayBreak Café, while the other is the site of the old River District Super Market property, which the city of Port Huron identified as the future home of new housing.
The planning commission meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Municipal Office Center, 100 McMorran Blvd. Agenda materials can be found online at http://porthuroncitymi.iqm2.com/Citizens/calendar.aspx.
Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.
This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Downtown's next business could be a marijuana shop. Find out more.
