SPRINGFIELD — A marijuana company with a national footprint is proposing a recreational marijuana shop in the shadow of MGM Springfield.

Suns Mass III LLC, a local unit of Arizona-based Harvest Health & Recreation LLC, wants to put a shop in a building owned by the Colvest Group at 1259 East Columbus Ave. The building is a 14,000-square-foot low-rise at the corner of Union Street and East Columbus Avenue, adjacent to a Berkshire Bank building also owned by Colvest.

Frank Colaccino, president and CEO of the Colvest Group, confirmed the location and said he has no involvement other than being the potential landlord.

Attorney Blake M. Mensing, who specializes in the state’s burgeoning marijuana industry and represents Suns Mass III, said his client is preparing to participate in the next round of the city’s marijuana licensing process, whenever that begins.

The proposal is drawing concerns from some neighborhood advocates. “I think is about our 13th or 14th request, just for our neighborhood alone,” said Leo Florian, president of the South End Citizens Council. “Apparently they feel that area, with the highway and all the people don there that this location will work out great for them.”

Mensing, who said he had no role in determining the site, said Suns Mass III can’t apply to the state without a host community agreement from the city. Suns Mass III hosted a required community meeting earlier this month.

Florian said he and a few members of the South End Citizens Council were at the meeting. But he said Suns Mass didn’t do a good job notifying people, and that he only found out it was happening through a chance encounter in city hall.

He said the South End Citizens Council is trying to set up a follow-up meeting, but no date has been set.

"They are going to have to really convince us that they can make it work if they want this to move forward," he said.

Florian said the location is a high traffic corner with MGM, a Pride gas station and store and the Berkshire Bank offices. It’s only going to get busier once Wahlburgers opens adjacent to MGM just a block away at the corner of Main and Union streets.

Suns Mass officials didn’t seem to know that the South End Middle School is just a few blocks away, according to Florian.

“Their eyes lit up when they saw the location. But they have a lot of homework to do. And we will do ours,” he said.

Florian’s list of potential marijuana shops in the South End includes the Insa proposal on West Columbus Avenue at the former Luxe Burger Bar. The City Council recently rejected that proposal — but Insa has sued, challenging the decision and arguing the Council acted out of animus.

Florian said the fact that the Insa proposal could still be on the table makes the Mass Suns proposal that much more troubling.

“If you stand at Union and Columbus you can see the Luxe Burger under the underpass,” Florian said. “You can throw a baseball from one to the other."

MGM Springfield spokesman Saverio Mancini said casino executives attended the meeting to learn more about the proposal.

Two other Suns Mass entities, also bankrolled and owned by Harvest, already have applications pending with the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, according to state documents.

One is a retail application for Worcester and the other would be a cultivation operation in Deerfield. Both are still pending, according to the commission’s database.

Harvest Health & Recreation LLC reported $26.6 million in total revenue for its most recent quarter, up 39% from the first quarter 2019.