LOGAN SQUARE — Plans to open a cannabis dispensary in an old bank building on Logan Square’s Milwaukee Avenue are inching forward.
PharmaCann, a Chicago-based cannabis company, wants to operate a dispensary in the Logan Square Trust & Savings Bank building at 2551 N. Milwaukee Ave. Company leaders are holding three community meetings Thursday evening.
The meetings are required before the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals can weigh whether or not to grant the company a special use permit.
The meetings are being held at DL Loft at 3050 N. Lincoln Ave., but neighbors can also participate virtually via Zoom.
The company is offering three time blocks — 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. — per city requirement, according to Paul Sajovec, chief of staff for Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd). RSVP is required.
Sajovec said the different time blocks “allow for participation, but avoid larger gatherings,” which are prohibited under the state’s coronavirus restrictions.
PharmaCann, considered a major player in the weed industry, won a total of four spots in the city’s weed lottery last November: Two in the central cannabis zone and one each in the north and northwest zones.
PharmaCann has since sold one of its spots to another company.
If approved, the Logan Square dispensary would be the company’s first dispensary in the city and its fifth in Illinois. It runs dispensaries in suburban Arlington Heights, Ottawa, Aurora and Romeoville.
Logan Square neighbors were largely in support of the project at a community meeting in mid-March. PharmaCann would be the neighborhood’s second dispensary along Milwaukee Avenue. Modern Cannabis, or MOCA, is located down the street.
PharmaCann is also seeking to launch a dispensary in Gold Coast at 12-14 W. Maple St. near Mariano Park, but that project is running into opposition from neighbors who say it is a bad fit for the affluent neighborhood.
The Logan Square dispensary is still a long way from reality. If PharmaCann secures the permit, the company then must have the location approved for a zoning change by the city’s Zoning Committee and the full City Council.
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