Ascend Won't Open Marijuana Shop At Waxy's In Brookline After All

BROOKLINE, MA — After pushback from community members who rallied multiple times outside of the old Waxy's near St. Mary's, the cannabis retail establishment has formally withdrawn its request to pursue a pot shop there.

In a letter to the economic developer, Ascend Mass' CEO Andrea Cabral thanks the department, but offers no explanation as to why the company has decided not to open shop.

The company was awarded the first conditional-use permit for adult-use cannabis retail sales in Boston in January and is expected to open soon there.

Paul Warren, who lives in St. Mary's and who researched what happened in other states and organized neighbors who were concerned about bringing the chain to the local district, setting up meetings and protests that brought out hundreds with signs, said he's relieved - for now.

"We won the battle but not the war," he told Patch. "So Ascend is gone, someone else is going to come in. Until Town Meeting realizes their vote [that ended up allowing retail marijuana in districts zoned as local] is completely inappropriate and they go back and revisit it it's going to be a game of wack-a-mole."

Town Meeting members and officials argued that by allowing marijuana establishments to set up shop in local districts, or L districts, such as St. Mary's or Putterham Circle, it could help bring in valuable tax revenue as the town looks for ways to pay for a new school, updates to the high school among other things.

Throughout the fall and into the winter, Warren headed a coalition of neighbors arguing that the site was within 498.1 feet of the McKinley Middle School in Boston, which would violate zoning rules which say no marijuana establishment should be within 500 feet of a school. They also argued the site would cause too much traffic and expressed criticism of Ascend's handling of information.

Warren and the opposition collected 1,250 signatures opposing retail marijuana in their densely packed neighborhood zoned for businesses to serve the local neighborhood.

"We know this is the worst possible place to put up a marijuana retailer. It would crush the culture of the neighborhood," Warren said in a phone interview, noting that the response would be the same if were a Walmart or another big box store.

Now that Ascend has announced it is no longer pursuing a retail cannabis establishment at the Beacon Street location, that leaves four other retail pot shops with applications to open in Brookline. That includes New England Treatment Access, at 170 Washington Street, which has license approval and could open within weeks.

Sanctuary Medicinals for 1351 Beacon Street, Comm Ave Canna, Inc at 1030 Comm Ave, and Mission Massachusetts for 1022-1024 Comm Ave are all also in the process of getting license approval.

Representatives from Ascend did not immediately return request for comment.

Previously on Patch:

• First Marijuana Shop In Boston, Looks Set To Open Near TD Garden (Dec. 2018)
• MA Marijuana Retailer NETA Sold To National Company (Jan. 2019)
• NETA Could Sell Recreational Pot In Brookline Within Weeks (Feb. 2019)

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Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).