Business owners on M-51 talk losses after dispensary ban

NILES TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Following Election Day, one local diner on the Stateline stretch Wednesday afternoon told ABC57 customers were happy voters approved the total ban on dispensaries, including those previously approved.

On the other hand, a number of local business owners planning to sell to dispensaries and investors who already bought properties say they at a complete loss after last night’s vote.

After months of pushback, voters made their voices heard regarding two marijuana-related proposals on the ballot.

More than 1,700 residents voted yes on a complete prohibition on dispensaries in the township.

The outcome, longtime business owner Daniel Tiser said, was one he hoped wouldn’t become reality.

“Some places will be fine, but some places will not recover from it and it’s gonna be close and they’ll be gone and empty vacant buildings,” said Daniel Tiser, president of Michiana Rental.

Tiser was among a number of business owners along M-51 with a purchase agreement pending the vote. He says voting yes on Proposal 2 will not bring back neighboring businesses that have already closed. Instead, it affects their existing agreements and investments.

“It’s very bad, it’s gonna hurt everybody on this strip,” Tiser said. “They had the same type of agreement that I had as far as a purchase agreement but wasn’t completed until this whole thing goes through. We were all in the same boat, we all planned on it, and now it’s done.”

Tiser planned on moving his longtime business just next door and was looking forward to an increase in foot traffic and tax revenue. Now, he says his business is out hundreds of thousands of dollars on what he thought was a done deal, calling it a bigger loss for his business than the COVID-19 pandemic.

He hopes some of the larger investors who lost millions will take legal action.

“Like me, like I said, I have a vacant building to try to get all the stuff that’s been going on for a year and now what do I do? It’s just bad. It’s very, very bad. The community does not understand what they just did,” Tiser said Wednesday.

ABC57 visited the township office multiple times hoping to speak with an official who could clear up some things, but no one would speak on or off camera.