Arizona marijuana retailer buys Worcester auto body shop for $2M
Photo | Grant Welker
The former auto body shop on Millbrook St. could become the city's newest pot retailer.
A proposed cannabis retailer has paid $2 million for DeBois Auto Body, an automotive repair and auto body garage operating for more than 60 years in Worcester.
The buyer, PJJMA Properties LLC from North Dakota, bought the shuttered two-story, 6,300-square-foot facility from Francis DeBoise in November.
The property at 56 Millbrook St. is the proposed site for Harvest Health & Recreation, a multi-state cannabis operator based in Arizona seeking Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission approval for a Worcester recreational marijuana store.
PJJMA Properties LLC is managed by Patrick Murphy and Joseph Kachuroi, both listed with North Dakota addresses, according to the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s Corporation Division.
Murphy did not return a call seeking comment. His LinkedIn page lists him as an investor in the Arizona-based Harvest Health & Recreation and as president of Murphy Motors in Williston, N.D.
Kachuroi declined to comment on the deal when reached by telephone at his Arizona office. His website lists him as national director of real estate and business development for Harvest, which bills itself as a leader in the cannabis industry, holding more than two dozen marijuana licenses in five states.
Last fall, the City of Worcester granted a marijuana license for Suns Mass II, a Harvest affiliate, to operate a retail recreational use marijuana store at 56 Millbrook St. The state’s Cannabis Control Commission has yet to issue the final license for the shop to open.
Joshua Lee Smith, the attorney representing Suns Mass II, did not respond to a request for comment.
Worcester’s first marijuana dispensary, Good Chemistry, opened last year for medical pot sales and in May it began selling recreational weed, after getting CCC approval. The Botanist followed with a medical marijuana store on Pullman Street.
The city’s Worcester’s third medical marijuana dispensary, Mission Massachusetts, opened in May on Lincoln Street. The city has a limit of 15 potential retail marijuana stores.
Earlier this month, Resinate, another marijuana shop in Worcester, held a grand opening even though its hasn't received the CCC final approval to begin selling marijuana. New Dia, a proposed recreational marijuana store for the Main South neighborhood, is aiming for an opening this spring.
Grant Welker contributed to this report.
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