ATLANTIC CITY — New Jersey has grown accustomed to legal marijuana since sales began almost a year ago.
The next step appears likely to be public consumption areas, where the business plan is to enhance the cannabis experience. Atlantic City appears to be in a good position to lead the way.
Picture low lighting, comfortable chairs, relaxing music and a warm feeling of well-being, enhanced by a haze of cannabis for those adults who choose to imbibe.
City officials have said for years legal weed could be good for America’s Playground, bringing a new wave of investment and jobs and expanding the local economy beyond casinos.
“Cannabis is real. It’s here. We’re trying to position Atlantic City as the cannabis hub for the East Coast,” said Kashawn “Kash” McKinley, the city’s director of constituent services who also leads the city’s Cannabis Review Board that advises Mayor Marty Small Sr. on cannabis-related issues.
Some of that investment is already being made.
Jon Cohn, the founder of Agri-Kind in Pennsylvania, estimated $35 million is on the way as part of two projects with which he has connections, and multiple other proposals are working through the approval process.
He’s a major investor in Starboard Industries, which has plans for a huge cannabis growing and cultivation operation on a 4-plus-acre property on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and his company has invested in High Rollers Dispensary, planned for the former casino floor in The Claridge hotel. He described his company as a passive investor in that business.
City officials have backed cannabis as an important new industry, creating a Green Zone redevelopment area where cannabis businesses are a permitted use, including consumption lounges.
In a recent interview, Cohn said both will depend on Atlantic City’s stream of tourists. He also outlined a bullish vision of cannabis in the city.
Casinos already bring in millions of visitors to the city, and shore communities see huge crowds of summer visitors. Cohn expects a percentage of those visitors will want to experience legal cannabis.
“There are really not a lot of shore towns that have opted into legal cannabis,” Cohn said.
Touring the grow
The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission has been approving new licenses, with more than 70 approved out of 1,575 applications statewide. But most of those have been for dispensaries, Cohn said. Those new dispensaries will need product.
He said it takes longer to build and outfit a growing facility, and even when that is done, it will take months to grow and process the plants.
The Starboard Enterprises proposal calls for a 125,000-square-foot facility where there is now a vacant lot at Atlantic Avenue and MLK Boulevard. The plans include a commercial kitchen and manufacturing facilities, and Cohn expects some accommodation for tours, for those who want to see where their weed comes from. There could also be a museum at the site.
But sales of cannabis and other THC products will take place elsewhere, according to the plans.
Some have already suggested the city could see a glut of dispensaries.
“Atlantic City had 28 million visitors last year,” Cohn said. He does not see the number of dispensaries under consideration as close to oversaturation.
Atlantic City has not set a limit on the number of cannabis businesses, McKinley said.
“We want the market to determine how many dispensaries we need,” he said Wednesday.
Cohn described Atlantic City as an ideal spot for the cultivation business, with a welcoming city administration and land that is relatively affordable, while the property is also in an impact zone, where the state has given priority to cannabis businesses.
“We thought it would be a good match,” he said.
High Rollers Dispensary LLC, the company planning to open in The Claridge near the Boardwalk, received a conditional license in September, the first step toward getting fully licensed.
That could come this month or next.
“We know it is imminent. We just don’t know when,” Cohn said.
Andrew and Denise Kirkland are the primary owners of High Rollers, according to public documents.
Rules on the way
The public comment period on the state rules for consumption lounges recently closed. Several people interviewed for this story expect a vote to finalize those rules at the next meeting of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission on Tuesday, but it is not on the agenda.
Like businesses serving alcohol, the dispensaries would be prohibited from selling cannabis to someone already intoxicated.
You can view the whole article at this link Cannabis consumption lounges on the way to Atlantic City
