GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Tucked away in an industrial park off of U.S. 131 and Hall Street is a shop with an inviting glass facade that stands out from the other metal-sided tenants.

It’s at that location, part of the former Benteler Automotive facility, where Grand Rapids’ first medical marijuana provisioning center is scheduled to open.

Doors to the Fluresh provisioning center at 1213 Phillips Ave. SW will open to card-holding medical marijuana patients at 10 a.m. Feb. 7, ushering in the city’s first-ever legal sales of marijuana, albeit the medical category.

“We are really excited about it. We think this is an amazing community,” said Lindsay Levin, chief marketing and sales officer for Fluresh. “We think that our medical cannabis will be able to serve a number of patients and really provide them the experience they’re looking for.”

The Grand Rapids Planning Commission began hearing from applicants for medical marijuana facilities in May 2019. So far, the commission has approved plans for 24 of them.

According to the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Fluresh is the only licensed medical marijuana provisioning center in the city as of Jan. 29.

The city is tentatively slated to begin accepting applications for recreational marijuana facilities on April 20.

For Fluresh’s Feb. 7 grand opening, new patients as well as those first-in-line will be able to score some first-day deals. The provisioning center will open with stock including various strains of the bud itself along with extracts, topicals, edibles and more.

“We are looking to provide as many products as patients are looking for,” Levin said. “We want to be able to service every patient’s needs.”

Regular hours at the Phillips Avenue provisioning center will be 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday. Those go into effect after the grand opening.

An interior shot of the Fluresh provisioning center at 1213 Phillips Ave. SW. The provisioning center is set to be the first to open in Grand Rapids when it opens Feb. 7. (Courtesy Photo | Fluresh)

Fluresh is planning to headquarter its operations at the Phillips Avenue location. Separated but in the same building, the space will also house up to 58,000 square feet of medical marijuana growing operations. The company also hopes to process marijuana there as well.

The combined provisioning, headquarter and growing operations translate to more than 100 employees, said Fluresh CEO Leah Bailey.

“We’re very happy to be able to bring economic development to this area as well,” Bailey said. “We think this is a very important function for us.”

Fluresh’s only other medical marijuana facility in Michigan is a growing and processing operation in Adrian. That facility is licensed to grow up to 7,500 plants.

None of that product has hit the market yet, as it’s still undergoing testing for quality that will match what company leaders want their brand to be known for. Products from that facility are slated to launch in spring.

“We want to be able to bring a product to the market that people will ask for by name,” Bailey said. "Not that, ‘I want some cannabis,' but ‘I want some Fluresh.’”

While no plans are currently in the works, Fluresh intends to have only a few provisioning centers around the state. Marijuana growing and wholesale product selling are the company’s focus, Bailey said.

The company intends to transition its growing, processing and selling operations into recreational marijuana as municipalities allow it.

Fluresh was founded by investment firm Thornapple River Capital LLC in Grand Rapids. Bailey said the firm has been investing in marijuana all over the country and wanted to do that in Michigan as well.

Read more:

Grand Rapids sets 4/20 target date to accept recreational marijuana applications

Grand Rapids approves more medical marijuana dispensaries, bringing total to 24

Kent County’s first recreational marijuana shop could open January 2020

Second Muskegon marijuana dispensary announces recreational sales forthcoming