Medical aches, pains may soon be eased through marijuana retailer

Medical aches, pains may soon be eased through marijuana retailer
MedMen proposes to repaint the retail building red.

A medical marijuana dispensary may be coming to a location in the historic 5 Points area. An application was filed in December 2018 with the City of Jacksonville’s Planning and Development Department for modifications to the former Fans & Stove Antiques Mall building at 1059 Park St.

Many residents in the Riverside/Avondale area also know the building as the one with the enormous Shaun Thurston mural on the Lomax Street side. If MedMen’s plans are approved, the eight-year-old mural will be painted over – in red.

MedMen is requesting to complete “a few alterations” to the 99-year-old non-contributing structure, allowing the Planning Department to review and approve the request rather than require it to be heard by the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission.

As long as the alterations do not negatively impact the style of the building or surrounding area, the Planning Department staff is able to approve the request with conditions.

The first request of the applicant was to remove the non-original green tile and replace it with new red tile in the same size. The Planning staff approved that request. The second request, which was also approved, was to install new frameless hurricane-rated window systems while keeping the front window openings the same size.

The conditional approvals were for the third and fourth requests: to remove the non-original metal cladding on the front and repair brick behind and along the side, with the condition any new brick would match the existing in dimension, texture and mortar, and new signage could not be internally illuminated, a condition of the Riverside Avondale Overlay. 

The last two requests were approved to paint the exterior red and replace the security door on the Lomax Street side of the building. Additionally, the single-leaf front door will be replaced with a double-leaf frameless hurricane-rated door system.

MedMen is anticipating a late third quarter 2019 opening.

The property, formerly owned by John and Jean Grant-Dooley, was purchased in 2015 by Miami-based real estate broker Jeff Morr for $1.25 million. Morr originally intended to bring a restaurant into that space. A year later, in June 2016, Morr said he was considering three restaurant groups to bring into the 6,000-square-foot space.

He also said, back in August 2015, that he would renovate the façade of the building “in the coming month” while waiting for the right restaurant to move in. Those renovations did not occur even after the antiques mall tenants moved out in June 2016, and the Fans & Stoves building has been a vacant eyesore for three-and-a-half years.

The Resident reached out to Morr’s Jacksonville real estate broker, Matthew Clark of Prime Realty, to find out why Morr shifted his plans from installing a restaurant in that space to leasing it for a medical marijuana dispensary, but did not receive a response as of press time.

Updated March 9, 2019

By Kate A. Hallock
Resident Community News

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...