PORTAGE PARK — A cannabis dispensary in Portage Park could bring economic development to the Irving Park Road corridor, 38th Ward residents said at a community meeting Wednesday.
At the meeting hosted by Ald. Nick Sposato (38th), neighbors packed the Portage Park Senior Center room, 5431 W. Berteau Ave., to share thoughts on a proposed dispensary that could open inside an old bank, 5900 W. Irving Park Road.
The building is at least 60 years old but has been vacant for over five years.
Eagle Dispensaries of Illinois, operated by Georgia-based entrepreneur Marcus Ferrell, seeks to open an adult-use recreational dispensary in the 12,000-square-foot building. Attorneys filed a special-use application with the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals Nov. 1, records show.
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A zoning change for the building was approved over the summer, the first hurdle to clear in opening the dispensary. Ferrell, who leads the Black-owned cannabis company Restorative Roots and whose grandmother is from the South Side, said the business would be the company’s first dispensary in Chicago.
The dispensary would operate 9 a.m.-10 p.m.