With four new weed licenses, Montclair on its way to becoming state's marijuana capital

Julia Martin, NorthJersey.com
Updated ·2 min read
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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 Township 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.

The second recreational license was granted to Kush Connections.

Two cannabis businesses, Genuine Grow and TLEHL, have been granted licenses for cultivation and manufacturing from Montclair and hope to eventually share space at 154 Pine Street.
Two cannabis businesses, Genuine Grow and TLEHL, have been granted licenses for cultivation and manufacturing from Montclair and hope to eventually share space at 154 Pine Street.

Licenses for cultivation and manufacturing were granted by the council last month. Both of those businesses, Genuine Grow and TLEHL, will share space at 154 Pine St., a building owned by David Genova that is 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 of 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 conditioned on approval from the Cannabis Regulatory Commission, which could take four to six months, and then Montclair would have to grant the final license and occupancy permits. Marshall said he hopes that by then, renovations at 154 Pine St. 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 although there were some bumps along the way in establishing and regulating the town’s budding cannabis industry, he is pleased with the new licenses. He’s especially happy to see Montclair residents receiving licenses over multi-state operators, along with 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,” Yacobellis said.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Montclair becoming NJ marijuana capital after weed licenses