A medical marijuana dispensary is no longer planned for a site at Tatum and Shea boulevards in north Phoenix.

Harvest Health and Recreation Inc. withdrew its rezoning application with the city at the end of August, according to a city spokesperson.

Harvest, which is based in Tempe and has the most dispensaries of any company in Arizona, declined to comment on why it decided not to move forward with the new location. It had filed the zoning change request in July.

The company may have faced pushback from surrounding neighborhoods. 

In other affluent areas of metro Phoenix, neighbors and nearby businesses have fought to ban dispensaries because of fears of inappropriate behavior or diminished property values. 

Harvest pulls back on one spot as it opens in another

Harvest had hoped to convert vacant suites in a commercial building on the northwest corner of Tatum and Shea boulevards into a 5,000-square-foot dispensary.

The upscale corner includes the popular OHSO Brewery, along with a Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. The dispensary would have gone into the commercial building that currently has PV Pie and Wine, Zoyo Neighborhood Yogurt and Eat Organic Eatery. 

Harvest officials declined to discuss that location even as the company expands elsewhere in the city.

In September, Harvest opened its 15th medical marijuana dispensary in Arizona near 19th and Peoria avenues.

CEO Steve White said the Peoria Avenue location was chosen because there are not many other dispensaries operating in the area, it has access to Interstate 17 and steady traffic.

“There is always a struggle with the zoning ordinances with the way they are, to find opportunities to have stores on main streets,” White said Oct. 1 during a grand opening celebration for the new shop.

“So when you can find it, that is a good thing.”

Few dispensaries in northeast Phoenix

The north Phoenix and Paradise Valley area has fewer medical marijuana dispensaries than many other parts of metro Phoenix, which would have given Harvest a corner on the market. 

The closest dispensary to the planned Harvest facility is Müv Dispensary on Cave Creek Road north of Cactus Road, a little more than four miles away. 

There are no dispensaries operating in neighboring Paradise Valley.

Harvest largest financier of recreational marijuana ballot measure

The marijuana industry has the potential to grow in Arizona under a Nov. 3 ballot measure that would legalize recreational use of marijuana.

Prop 207, also known as the Smart and Safe Arizona Act, would allow adults 21 and older to possess as much as an ounce of marijuana while allowing sales at the approximately 130 existing medical-marijuana dispensaries in the state. Voters have indicated their support of the measure in recent polling.

Harvest is the largest financier of the initiative.

If it passes, it would substantially increase the revenue potential of medical marijuana dispensaries, which now may only sell to patients with doctor-recommended cards.

Harvest not only runs 15 dispensaries in Arizona, more than any other company, but could become the largest marijuana retailer in the nation pending the completion of a merger with another large chain. 

White has said Harvest’s ambition is to grow as quickly and profitably as possible to become a target for acquisition by some larger corporate entity.

The company now has 37 operating retail operations in seven states.

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or at 602-444-8763. Follow her on Twitter @JenAFifield. 

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