Landlord says Purple Cross Rx will leave its downtown location
soon
The landlord of Purple Cross Rx, the embattled medical marijuana
dispensary in downtown Hollister, said his tenant plans to move out
of the building during the next few weeks.
”
He’s looking for another suite in Hollister or San Jose,
”
said Greg Dolan, who owns the building at 335 San Benito St.,
where Scott McPhail opened the dispensary against the city’s wishes
in December 2009. McPhail did not respond to phone and e-mail
requests for an interview by press time.
Landlord says Purple Cross Rx will leave its downtown location soon
The landlord of Purple Cross Rx, the embattled medical marijuana dispensary in downtown Hollister, said his tenant plans to move out of the building during the next few weeks.
“He’s looking for another suite in Hollister or San Jose,” said Greg Dolan, who owns the building at 335 San Benito St., where Scott McPhail opened the dispensary against the city’s wishes in December 2009. McPhail did not respond to phone and e-mail requests for an interview by press time.
The city council initially said its zoning rules did not allow medical marijuana dispensaries to operate within the city limits and in January it adopted ordinances declaring dispensaries as a prohibited use. After that action, Dolan served a three-day eviction notice on McPhail and filed an “unlawful detainer” action in court to force Purple Cross to move.
McPhail ignored the eviction order and McPhail’s lawyer had the unlawful detainer thrown out on technicalities. The city then filed suit against McPhail and Dolan, hoping to get Purple Cross to move out of Hollister.
Word of the potential move of the dispensary “is news to us,” said Hollister City Attorney Stephanie Atigh on Monday.
The next scheduled step in the lawsuit is a case management conference on Aug. 4, at which time the city plans to seek a motion for summary judgment, meaning a trial would be avoided by having a judge make a ruling on undisputed facts.
“We feel we have a very strong case,” Atigh said. “There’s no dispute that what they’re doing there is distribution of marijuana, and no dispute that we have an ordinance in place saying they can’t do that in the city limits and that they’re creating a public nuisance.”
Asked if having Purple Cross move out of the city limits would lead the city to drop its lawsuit, Atigh was optimistic, though noncommittal.
“If they leave and they don’t reopen in the city, which is what we hope for, we would dismiss the case,” she said. “That would be one option, however. It would be up to the council to decide. We could go forward to get an order that they not reopen elsewhere (in Hollister).
Dolan said he was “disgusted” that the city named him in the Purple Cross lawsuit, since he served the eviction notice and filed the unlawful detainer motion against his tenant.
“I had to make my move because I don’t have the money or the time to deal with a lawsuit,” he said, saying his filing of the detainer action without using a lawyer backfired on him when he didn’t follow proper procedures and McPhail’s lawyers had the request invalidated. He then chose not to re-file it.
“It took so long, but fortunately for all concerned, they’re going to leave and not fight anymore three-day or 30-day notices” to leave, Dolan said.
Despite the pressure from the city and McPhail ignoring the requests to have Purple Cross leave its third-floor suite, Dolan said his tenant remains on good terms.
“I have absolutely no hard feelings with him,” Dolan said. “Scott and Purple Cross have been very, very professional. It was hard for me to go through all of this. They ran a very clean operation and they were licensed by the State of California.”
While Dolan says it “kills me financially to get rid of them,” he already has other prospective tenants interested in the office space.
He also said he does not regret renting to Purple Cross in the first place.
“I knew the people before hand and I trusted them,” he said. “I did my due diligence and they seemed to have the appropriate licenses in a commercial zone. The City of Hollister basically didn’t want them here.”
Dolan said he would “definitely be doing a nice reference” for Purple Cross, as McPhail paid his rent on time, kept the building clean and upgraded its security system.
“The building is in a lot better shape than before they were in it,” Dolan said. “If any landlord wants a reference, I’ll be giving them high marks and high praise. They’ve been very good tenants for me.”
