Cannabis entrepreneurs Drudys Ledbetter and Leslie Pascual presented their plans to open an adult-use dispensary in Fields Corner at an abutters’ meeting last month and will bring their proposal before the Fields Corner Civic Association next month.

The duo – both with deep roots in Boston’s neighborhoods – previously sought to open their Zeb Boutique retail shop at locations in Mattapan, but now have an agreement to lease the space at 1524 Dorchester Ave. that once housed a Radio Shack and then EBlens Fashions.

“This is going to be our third try at a location and the fourth time we’ve presented to the Boston Cannabis Board,” Ledbetter told The Reporter during an interview at the Fields Corner site, where the company held its annual meeting for investors and friends last Saturday night.

“This is a marquee location, and we feel great about it. When we started engaging with Main Streets here, we found it’s a lot of young business owners and first-generation owners and a passion for homeownership in Dorchester – all things we share with them.”

Pascual and Ledbetter met in 7th grade at Boston Latin School (BLS), and took up separate careers before coming together to form Zeb Boutique. They first attempted to locate in a refurbished building on Blue Hill Avenue near Morton Street, but that plan was upended at the last minute due to a change in the landlord’s conditions.

A second location on River Street in Mattapan Square resulted in a long negotiation with neighbors, and the Church of the Holy Spirit across the street in Mattapan Square – resulting in many concessions and changes in operating hours. That was all in vain, however, as a landlord issue again surfaced at the 11th hour to stop the proposal. The company also had to change course to remove a business partner, and to change its name.

Investors and friends chatted at the potential new location for Zeb Boutique in Fields Corner on Saturday evening prior to the company’s annual meeting.

Officially, they are licensed with the state and need only to complete a change of location in that process. At the city and community level, though, they have to start over with the neighborhood and with the Boston Cannabis Board and Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). As of now, they have signed a Letter of Intent with the landlord and are working out the final touches on a lease.

“I remember toasting to just an idea with my best friend in 2021and I was so excited that we survived this long and now we are so close to the starting line here in Fields Corner,” said Pascual. “It’s been a great journey and a fulfilling one for me…We’ve only fallen forward and gotten better at making decisions and pivoting the company. We’re still surviving four years later pre-revenue. That’s unheard of and shows our drive to move to another community and try to get started here.”

Added Ledbetter, “I sat down with the church in Mattapan and 120 people showed up on Zoom and I cried after the meeting because I grew up in the church and what they were saying in that meeting about me was hard. So, I’m not afraid of the tough conversations. A lot of times people are mad at us until they meet us and find out we’re regular people – we’re moms and we’re community people.”

Pascual noted that she spent a great deal of time in Fields Corner as her father operated a business on Geneva Avenue near the MBTA bridge when she was growing up, though her family’s home has been in Uphams Corner for more than 30 years.

Both came to learn about cannabis and its medicinal effects as adults and have fashioned their boutique to be as much about wellness and education as it is about cannabis products. On the logistics side of things, the dispensary will be required to have an extensive security plan, and that includes an array of video cameras right at the nexus of Park Street and Dorchester Avenue – creating what they believe will be a much greater security situation there.

Meanwhile, they will also be renovating about 3,300 square feet of vacant space in the building – a location where they will pay homage to the former Park Street theater with touches like a movie-style ticket booth to check IDs and the refurbished original chandelier that once graced the foyer of the old showplace.

All that said, there are both concerns and some initial skeptics over what’s being planned. The Buddhist Temple on Park Street has logged early concerns, as have some of its members who are prominent in the Vietnamese American community. FCCA has placed Zeb Boutique on its January agenda, and it has been noted that Brian Chavez, a Fields Corner businessman, was not supported when he was looking to open a cannabis shop nearby several years ago – though he eventually established one of the first cannabis shops in Dorchester on Freeport Street.

For all that, Ledbetter and Pascual said they remain excited about their prospects and are ready to work with the community and its leaders in the months ahead.