Riverside has postponed the purchase of village property by Star Buds on which the company plans to build a new dispensary.
At the village board’s July 18 meeting, Riverside trustees approved an ordinance amending the closing date to Dec. 31 of a contract between the village and Star Buds for the purchase of village property at 3320 S. Harlem Ave. and 363-369 E. Burlington Street. The amendment allows the board to extend the contract for another six months until June 30, 2025, if Star Buds does not close on the property by the board’s final meeting of the year.
Trustees OK’d the ordinance as part of the meeting’s consent agenda, meaning they passed it without discussion alongside other items that are routinely approved, like minutes from village commission meetings.
The village board first approved the execution of the sales contract at a meeting in September 2023, agreeing to sell the properties to Star Buds for $600,000. Agenda documents from that meeting show the original closing date for the sale was within four months of the contract approval, meaning Star Buds would have had to buy the land by Jan. 22. According to documents from the board’s July 18 meeting, the original agreement allowed for Star Buds to extend the contract’s closing date six months, until July 22.
Star Buds’ plan for the properties went before Riverside’s planning and zoning commission late last month, where partner Ahmad Joudeh and architect Brian Gould explained their idea for a new dispensary with a drive-thru and an adjoining business.
Because of a myriad of issues that commissioners had with the proposal, the commission chose to table its vote that would recommend the village board either approve or deny the plan to its July 24 meeting. That meeting, where Joudeh and Gould will present an updated proposal, is now postponed to Aug. 6, Village President Doug Pollock said at Thursday’s board meeting.
