LEOMINSTER — The Leominster City Council entered executive session during a special meeting held ahead of its regular meeting on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, to discuss litigation strategy in the city’s lawsuit against Middlesex Integrative Medicine, Inc., the cannabis cultivation facility at 25 Mohawk Drive that the council ordered to vacate in June following repeated complaints from city officials about alleged noncompliance with its host agreement and special permit obligations.
After opening the special meeting and holding a public forum limited to the executive session agenda item — during which no members of the public asked to speak — City Council President Claire Freda called for a vote to enter executive session under M.G.L. c. 30A, §21(a)(3), which allows a public body “to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares.”
Before the vote, Ward 4 Councilor Mark Bodanza said he needed to recuse himself, stating he would not participate in the vote or the executive session discussion. The motion then passed.
After the motion passed, Freda said the council would not return to public session following executive session. The council later proceeded with its regular meeting.
In an email to News Link Live received on Jan. 18, 2026, Freda said the executive session was called to discuss updates on negotiations between the city attorney and Middlesex Integrative Medicine’s attorney. “A settlement has been reached and Middlesex has vacated the premises,” Freda said.
The closed-door legal discussion follows a long-running dispute over Middlesex Integrative Medicine’s operations at the Mohawk Drive facility. During the city council’s April 14, 2025 meeting, Freda said Middlesex Integrative Medicine had failed to submit required annual reports for years — dating back to 2018 — and had not provided required notifications to the city about changes in management, obligations she said were mandated under Leominster ordinances.
“I have not seen one annual report for this company at all from anybody,” Freda said.
Outside City Hall, the dispute has also intersected with ongoing bankruptcy litigation involving the Mohawk Drive property. Mohawk Drive Corp., which owns the 25 Mohawk Drive building, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024, according to the bankruptcy-case tracking website inforuptcy.com.
During the City Council’s April 14, 2025 meeting, Attorney Nick Carter, representing receiver David Engel, said Engel was appointed by the Massachusetts Superior Court in October 2023 to oversee Middlesex Integrative Medicine’s operations.
Carter stated that Middlesex Integrative Medicine (MIM) is currently involved in bankruptcy proceedings and that certain actions related to the property, including a $200,000 escrow account for the company’s orderly exit from the site, had been approved by the bankruptcy court. Carter said the company suffered significant crop losses due to leaks in the facility, resulting in millions of dollars in damages.
“If the facility had been provided as the landlord was obligated to provide it, it would not have leaked, it would have been successful, and there would not be a departure now of MIM from Leominster,” Carter said.
Kevin Crowley, representing Mohawk Drive Corporation, which owns the building, disputed Carter’s claim, stating: “The roof leaks were caused by substandard work during fit-up.”
Then, in June 2025, Leominster City Council voted unanimously to order Middlesex Integrative Medicine to vacate 25 Mohawk Drive by June 30, 2025. City officials said the company had continued operating despite a cease and desist order issued in March 2025 and raised concerns about decommissioning requirements for the grow operation, including the lack of a required bond intended to cover removal and shutdown costs.
Separate from the city council proceedings, related matters involving 25 Mohawk Drive have continued through other city boards. A December 2025 Zoning Board of Appeals agenda lists David Engel, as receiver for Middlesex Integrative Medicine, Inc., as pursuing an administrative appeal connected to the property.
