New cannabis businesses, new apartment approved in Atlantic City
ATLANTIC CITY – The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority supported two planned cannabis businesses in the city on Tuesday, part of a growing number in the works for the resort.
Members also approved new apartments at a former rooming house, one officials described as a notorious problem property.
The board approved use variances for a dispensary and consumption lounge at 3112 Atlantic Ave., and to a proposed cannabis growing facility that will take up most of a block at 1705 Atlantic Ave.
The CRDA serves as the planning authority within the tourism district of Atlantic City. It has already supported plans for other cannabis businesses, starting with a vote in April for a dispensary on Pacific Avenue, just days before the first legal cannabis sales took place in New Jersey.
Modia Butler, the chairman of the CRDA Board of Directors, said he expects more cannabis applications to come. CRDA staff said there have been four applications put forward this summer for cannabis businesses, including the two approved on Tuesday.
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The process of applying has become easier, with the adoption of an Atlantic City “Green Zone” to allow cannabis businesses, in hopes of drawing new tourism revenue and creating jobs. Last month, the CRDA supported that proposal, which was adopted by City Council.
The zone runs from Boston to Maryland avenues, including both sides of Atlantic and Pacific avenues. It also includes the Orange Loop district running from Pacific Avenue to just shy of the Boardwalk, between New York and Tennessee avenues.
The zone makes cannabis sales, cultivation and other businesses a permitted use. City officials said the zone was drawn to avoid residential neighborhoods and the Boardwalk.
Lance Landgraf, the director of planning and development for the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, told the board on Tuesday that the two applications approved fall within the Green Zone and so would not need a use variance under the current zoning, but they must be decided based on the zoning in place when the applications were submitted.
The first application was from Legal Distribution LLC for a micro dispensary at 3112-3114 Atlantic Ave., a building that once served as a masonic hall. According to Landgraf, one of the principals in the LLC, restauranteur Lou Freedman, already had approval for a restaurant on the first floor.
Freedman, of Margate, owns a quarter of the business, as do Rashon White of Egg Harbor Township, Holly Pugh of Absecon and Jason Lentz of Atlantic City.
The business would include a consumption area on site, as proposed.
Board member William Mullen asked how that was allowed under New Jersey’s rules against smoking inside. Landgraf said licensed cannabis businesses are exempt from those rules, but that the business would need to install filters, and would not be allowed to vent the cannabis-smelling air directly outside.
The building would be renovated, but the size and shape will not change much under the plans. It does not have on-site parking.
The second application would not have on-site sales or consumption, but will be a much larger project.
The CRDA board approved a use variance for Starboard Enterprises NJ LLC of Exton, Pennsylvania, for a cannabis growing and manufacturing site on a vacant parcel adjacent to Martin Luther King Boulevard.
The principal owners of the company are both of Atlantic City, according to details filed as part of the application process. Jon Cohn has close to 45% of the LLC, while Craig McHugh has a little over 22%.
The proposed building would be 125,000 square feet.
According to Landgraf, the cannabis grown there would be sold at other dispensaries, not at this site. There is no application for a retail license for the property. But there are plans for some public access on the ground floor, where tourists, neighbors and residents will be able to learn more about how cannabis is grown and prepared.
That proposal will still need site plan approval, he said, which will include details on security, lighting, ventilation and other issues. Landgraf said the applicant will be expected to ensure passers-by will not get a whiff of that distinctive cannabis aroma. He said the applicant testified that other similar facilities have improved neighborhood safety because of the cameras and increased security.
Both proposals received the support of Mayor Marty Small Sr. and the city, Landgraf said. The Starboard Enterprises proposal did receive some criticism at a review and public hearing on the application, Landgraf said, with an attorney representing a neighboring property owner testifying that the proposal was a poor fit for the neighborhood.
For now, there are two licensed cannabis dispensaries in the city, each selling only to those with medical marijuana cards.
At the same meeting, the CRDA also gave final site plan approval to a plan to convert a former three-story motel at 2707 Pacific Ave. to apartments, to include adding a fourth floor.
“It’s nice to get off cannabis for a little bit, and move on to some real land use development,” said Landgraf.
The plan calls for a mix of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and studio apartments.
He said the building had been the Fox Manor Hotel.
“The board may recall this site as one of the worst rooming house sites in the city,” he said. “It was shut down by the city. This is, in my opinion, a really good adaptive use of the structure.”
The city shuttered the hotel in July of 2018, citing multiple code violations. Neighbors told The Press of Atlantic City at the time that the property was plagued with prostitution, gang activity and drug sales, but residents of the hotel said they looked after each other.
The building is close to The Tropicana, and remains boarded up.
Most of the variances requested as part of the application are for setbacks that already exist at the building, Landgraf said.
According to the application filed with the CRDA, Bradley Simon and Shraga Pier, both of Passaic in Passaic County, each own 50% of Atlantic Beach Properties LLC, which in the applicant for the project.
There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the applicant on when construction might begin on the new apartments.
Contact Bill Barlow:
609-272-7290
bbarlow@pressofac.com
Twitter @jerseynews_bill
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