Developer Wants To Turn Boston College Dive Bar Into Recreational Marijuana Shop

Cheap gin and tonics could give way to THC in Cleveland Circle if one developer gets approval on a recreational marijuana shop proposal. Neighbors are less than thrilled. 

Mary Ann’s on Beacon Street across from the Cleveland Circle MBTA stop has been a Boston College nightlife hub for decades, but that could soon change. Greater Boston Bar Co. currently owns the bar and has an agreement to sell to Happy Valley Ventures, a marijuana company. 

Happy Valley wants to turn Mary Ann’s into a 1,900 SF recreational marijuana dispensary, but neighbors and nearby Boston College are fighting the plan, CBS Boston reports. 

“[I’m] absolutely against it because what’s happening [is] we’re selling our soul to the devil here,” Pino’s Pizza owner Feliciano Petruzziello told CBS.

Neighbors are concerned by the amount of traffic a recreational marijuana shop would bring to Cleveland Circle. Officials in Leicester, Massachusetts, home to one of the first recreational marijuana stores in the state, had to call an emergency meeting one week after the store opened to figure out how to combat the drastically higher-than-expected traffic volume to the town. 

Other residents have argued a recreational marijuana shop isn’t the best use for the space in Cleveland Circle, which is heavily populated with college students. Boston College Executive Director of Public Safety Bill Evans, who was previously Boston's police commissioner, said the university is against the proposal.

Happy Valley, which is underway with several marijuana facilities across Massachusetts, notes the proposed store would close much earlier than the current 2 a.m. last call at Mary Ann’s. The store would also have a capacity of 47 compared to the bar being able to handle as many as 200 people.