Marijuana cultivation center coming to Fulton

Owner of The Dispensary expanding medical, recreational sales operation

The Dispensary, a place where local patients with state permits can purchase medical marijuana, will be opening soon in the center of a new shopping center at state Routes 84 and 136 in Fulton. There will be an open house at 5 p.m. May 17. (Sauk Valley Media photo/Alex T. Paschal)

FULTON – Ground was broken this week on a marijuana grow operation in the Fulton Industrial Park.

Davenport, Iowa-based developer and Fulton Industrial LLC owner Dan Dolan, owner of The Dispensary and Rec Room, paid the city $814,750 for slightly less than 60 acres of vacant land at 31st Avenue and Fourth Street, according to Whiteside County property records.

Dolan did not return text or phone messages Friday seeking more information.

Illinois has 21 cultivation centers; this would be the 22nd, the Department of Agriculture said.

The Dispensary, which sells medical marijuana, opened July 1, 2016, at 1801 16th Ave., in what was then the new Fulton Crossing Development on the southeast corner of Routes 136 and 84.

Dolan owns the building.

The Rec Room, which sells recreational marijuana, opened May 14, 2021, in the space next door.

Dolan, who owns and operates Dan Dolan Homes Inc., also owns The Dispensary in East Dubuque, another border town along the Mississippi, which opened May 15, 2021.

Kathleen Schultz

Kathleen A. Schultz

Kathleen Schultz is a Sterling native with 40 years of reporting and editing experience in Arizona, California, Montana and Illinois.