A Peoria-area cannabis law attorney and business consultant wants to bring a locally-owned dispensary to downtown Pekin.
Tom Howard, founder and Managing Director of consulting company Collateral Base, spent years acquiring licenses for cannabis clients across the country. Now, he’s working to open a dispensary of his own.
Howard says he applied with his Cannabis Legalization News Podcast co-host, Miggy Mulholland, for a social equity license through the State of Illinois' Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act.
“It turned out that my co-host, because he’s been arrested for cannabis and with where he resides being in a disproportionately impacted area, was eligible,” said Howard. “So we decided to make an LLC and throw our hat into the ring.”
Miggy’s Pot Shop LLC won a license from the state in a round of lottery drawings in Summer 2023. Howard says if rezoning is approved, they’ll operate under the name “Marigold’s Dispensary.”
The intended site is a 12,213-square foot, 115-year-old building at 359 Court Street in Downtown Pekin. The building was most recently the home of Classical Dance Academy.
“We want to bring development there. It’s also a historic TIF [tax-increment financing] district,” said Howard. “So we are going to be preserving the building and elongating its useful life.”
Howard has other plans for giving back to the community through the dispensary. He wants to assist local nonprofits in applying for the state’s R3 grant program and eventually move more business into the building.
He argues the dispensary even represents an additional asset for the city’s pension liabilities.
“The City of Pekin earmarked their 3% surcharge on the sales to go directly to police and firefighter pensions,” said Howard. “And so when we crunched our numbers, we think we might be able to deliver $100 to $150,000 to pension liability.”
Howard says there are hurdles to getting a cannabis business approved in Pekin. It’s already home to two others: an infuser and a dispensary operated by the regional chain NuEra. But, he wants to stress to the city council the difference between dispensaries and smoke shops selling hemp-derived variants of THC.
Howard says those businesses aren’t subject to the long list of state regulations governing dispensary operation.
“I just want them to understand that we are selling local, safe products under a license with employees that had to go train, get a badge and a background check, all these things, and generating tax dollars for the community,” he said.
Last week, Howard gave his pitch to the Pekin City Council at their regular meeting.
Terry Gambetti, president of Pekin Main Street, told the council that downtown business owners she’s spoken with approve of the dispensary occupying the building.
The rezoning application has already been recommended for approval by the Pekin Zoning Board. The city council could consider the application as soon as March 10.
