NORTHAMPTON — Nearly two years ago property owner Eric Suher and Patrick M. Goggins, president of Goggins Real Estate, announced that Goggins would market 15 of the entertainment mogul’s vacant storefronts and properties, with the hope of filling high-profile spaces on Main and Pleasant streets with new tenants.

Today, many of those locations are still vacant. Goggins, a former city council president, blames the vacancies on the state’s slow pace in issuing licenses to recreational, or “adult use” marijuana retailers who have options on some, but not all, of Suher’s spaces.

Suher, a secretive businessman who also owns the Iron Horse, Calvin Theatre, the Basement and Pearl Street Nightclub, didn’t return calls Friday.

And while some Suher properties are optioned to marijuana companies waiting to get licenses, others are simply vacant.

Goggins said marijuana operators have paid for options to rent the former Marinello School of Beauty space at 58 and 76 Pleasant St. and the former Modern Myths comic book shop space around the corner on Bridge Street.

A third property in the neighborhood — 61 Service Center Lane, which is not owned by Suher — is also optioned to a marijuana operator.

All told, Goggins said he has seven, and soon to be eight, deals with marijuana retailers. The retailers sign agreements paying to hold an option to rent.

But if the properties are spoken for, why does Goggins still have "For Lease" signs up?

Well, an option is not a deal, he said. The potential marijuana retailer could drop its application, or it could get turned down by the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission.

"So, I'm talking backup offers on these spaces," he said. "People keep asking me why they are empty. Well, they aren't empty."

A marijuana business has an option to rent the former Modern Myths store at the 34 Bridge St. shopping plaza. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican)

And what about the Suher properties that aren’t in line for marijuana businesses?

A number of them, Goggins said, are small offices upstairs at the corner of Main and Pleasant street, which he continues to show.

Goggins said another restaurant operator is close to a deal to move into the former Grub sandwich spot at 88 Pleasant St.

Suher himself is renovating the former Deals & Steals space at 76 Pleasant St. to make it more attractive to a potential tenant.

Then, there is the former Spoleto space on Main Street, vacant since the restaurant moved to Bridge Street in 2012.

Goggins said he has shown the Spoleto space, now vacant and plastered with posters for acts at Suher’s venues, to new restaurant operators and he expects he will continue to do so.

Northampton Mayor David J. Narkewicz pointed out that Suher doesn’t own any of the buildings where three restaurants — ConVino Wine Bar, Viva Fresh Pasta Co. and La Fiorentina Pastry Shop — have recently either closed or announced they would close.

Narkewicz has publicly clashed with Suher over the years regarding vacant properties, or renovation projects that inexplicably stop mid progress. The mayor called Suher out for not fixing the “CALVIN” marquee sign when it was missing an A, until Suher eventually relented and made repairs.

But Narkewicz said there isn't anything personal.

“We work with him. I try and communicate with him on a regular basis and send people his way when they are looking for space,” Narkewicz said. “But at the end of the day, these are privately owned buildings. We have several different building owners in town, each with their own philosophies of how soon the spaces need to be turned over.”

Empty storefronts aren’t Suher’s only problem. He faces complaints filed with the state attorney general’s office by current and former workers accusing him of cheating them out of time off and wages.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection also has imposed a fine of $15,425 against the Holyoke Country Club, owned by Suher, for violations related to underground fuel storage. The state blocked fuel deliveries to the tanks after Suher failed to comply with an earlier enforcement action.