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Montclair, which has granted four more licenses to cannabis businesses, is moving closer to becoming the “marijuana capital of New Jersey.”
On Tuesday, the town council awarded two more recreational licenses, bringing the total to three with Ascend, which opened last fall.
One went to two Montclair entrepreneurs, George Marable and Eric Payne, who plan to open Night Owl at the site of the former DLV Lounge on Bloomfield Avenue. Marable owned the iconic jazz venue, which closed in December after 50 years.
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The second recreational license was granted to Moodi Day, the husband-wife team of Jacquelin DeVore and Biyerem Okengwu, who are leasing space at 151 Valley Road across from Tierney’s Tavern. The couple, a lawyer and a teacher, began a wholesale marijuana business two years ago to “get our feet wet.”
Licenses for cultivation and manufacturing were granted by the council last month. Both of these businesses, Genuine Grow and TLEHL, will share space at 154 Pine Street, a building owned by David Genova that is currently under renovation.
Genuine Grow is headed by Andrew Marshall, who attended the Montclair public schools from kindergarten through high school. He will be hiring employees through REED Autism services to help with the growing of the small batch marijuana that will be sold to local retailers and manufacturers.
One of those manufacturers will no doubt be Genuine Grow’s co-tenant TLEHL Inc., which received a license to make marijuana products such as tinctures, topicals and pre-rolled joints at the Pine Street location.
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The new licenses are conditional upon approval from the Cannabis Regulatory Commission, which could take four to six months, and then Montclair will have to grant the final license and occupancy permits. Marshall said he hopes that by then, renovations at 154 Pine Street will be completed and he will be growing by early next year.
Montclair receives 2% of all retail marijuana sales, 2% of growers’ sales, and 1% of manufacturing revenue.
Councilor Pete Yacobellis said that, while there were some bumps along the way in establishing and regulating the town’s budding cannabis industry, is pleased with the new licenses. He’s especially happy to see Montclair residents receiving licenses over multi-state operators, and a Black-owned business, given that the Black community has suffered most from legacy drug laws, he said.
With three retail, one cultivation and one manufacturing license, the town has reached the maximum number of licenses available − for now.
“If all goes well, I do see us opening up the law to consider additional licenses in all categories next year,” he said.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: With four new weed licenses, Montclair on its way to becoming state’s ‘marijuana capital’
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