BY THOMAS GRILLO
LYNN — The owner of the Lynnway Sportscenter hopes to roll a strike in an attempt to replace his bowling alley with the city’s first marijuana dispensary.
Former City Councilor Paul Crowley, trustee of the 12,000-square-foot facility at 497 Lynnway, has filed an application with the Inspectional Services Department to change the use of the center to a medical marijuana clinic.
Under the terms of the application, the candlepin bowling alley that’s been around for 81 years would become a pot dispensary operated by the New England Patient Network Inc. The East Boston-based company is seeking approval from the state Department of Public Health for a retail shop in Lynn and another in the western Massachusetts community of Deerfield.
Crowley said he’s been approached by several companies seeking space in his building for a medical marijuana dispensary. After completing due diligence, he settled on New England Patient Network because, he said, they were the most qualified. If the city selects them, he said they will have an option to lease a portion of the building.
He declined to provide financial details of the lease.
The final determination of how much space the firm would need will come later, Crowley added.
“In theory, we could remove six lanes and there still would be eight or we could take out the whole 14 lanes,” he said. “It’s a longshot. I’m hopeful, but I don’t know how much of a chance we have.”
Julius Sokol, New England Patient Network’s CEO, said he is in the final phase of approval in Lynn and has signed a host agreement with Deerfield. Sokol declined to reveal the details of the deal.
But Douglas Finn, interim Deerfield town administrator, said the three-year agreement with Sokol calls for a one-time payment of $50,000 and 2 percent of the gross annual revenues for the first two years, with an increase to 3 percent for the third year. Finn expects Deerfield could net about $100,000 annually.
Sokol, a Marblehead resident, stressed his Lynn roots.
“I lived in Lynn for seven years, my grandparents lived on the Lynnway for 35 years and I own property in Lynn,” he said. “We want to be up and running in Lynn soon and want to figure out what we can do for the city.”
He insisted that his company will not grow marijuana in Lynn.
“The general concern is about people breaking in and stealing money, product, machinery, so we will take that element out of it and just sell retail in Lynn and manufacture in Deerfield,” he said.
The application for the Lynnway dispensary comes as the marijuana ordinance is in limbo at City Hall.
Last week, the City Council approved a plan to bring two medical marijuana clinics to the city. Under the ordinance, the treatment center district would include the non-waterfront side of the Lynnway from Market Street to the General Edwards Bridge, two sites on Commercial Street and all properties on Route 107 from the Belden Bly Bridge to the intersection of Western and Murphy avenues. But Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy has threatened to veto the ordinance because she is opposed to an amendment giving the 11-member panel the power to decide how money received from the marijuana clinics would be spent.
The Singer brothers opened the 20-lane bowling alley in 1935. In 1972 it was purchased by longtime employee and candlepin bowling Hall of Famer Ron Crowley and lifelong friend Richie Rippon. In 1998, Crowley’s children took over the business. In 2000, they acquired a liquor license and transformed six lanes into a 2,500-square-foot sports bar and restaurant, according to the alley’s website.
Peter Capano, the Ward 6 city councilor who lives five minutes from the bowling alley, said his proposal, which was rejected by the City Council, would have opened the dispensary locations to the entire city.
“But the council decided to put them in a place that they feel is least invasive to the city without regard to those residential neighborhoods,” he said.
Thomas Grillo can be reached at [email protected].
