ATLANTIC CITY — Enoch “Nucky” Johnson, political boss, one-time sheriff and mob associate whose life helped inspire an HBO series, functionally legalized alcohol in Atlantic City despite federal prohibition.
Now, the booming local sale of another federally illegal intoxicant appears likely to replace the Pennsylvania Avenue church where Johnson got married.
The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority board approved a plan last week for a cannabis dispensary at 1015 Pacific Ave., where a church has stood for more than a century.
It’s the latest in a long line of cannabis businesses approved for the city.
Lance Landgraf, the CRDA’s director of planning and development, told the board that almost 30 have been approved since marijuana legalization took effect just two years ago.
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Data from the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission shows seven dispensaries open in Atlantic City, along with one site open only for medical marijuana sales.
At the same meeting, the authority approved adding cultivation at another site, at 3112 Atlantic Ave., and more proposals are on the way, leading some CRDA board members to question how many can hope to make money.
Landgraf said planners ask the same question.
“How are you going to make yourself successful? There’s 27, 28 other facilities in the city. How are you going to stand out?” he told the board. “We want them all to succeed. We don’t want them to improve the building, put the money into it and then not succeed, because the building is vacant again.”
He said business owners understand the challenges.
In many cases, cannabis retailers have taken over long-vacant properties in the city, bringing new investment to long-neglected structures. In this case, the plan is to demolish.
Plans filed with the CRDA show a modern, square, two-story building with an open deck along one side.
A former Masonic Lodge, part of a former casino and multiple other structures now house cannabis businesses in the city. In some cases, churches have asked the businesses not be allowed nearby, but in this case, the church had already left.
Members of the CRDA board asked whether the existing structure was historic. They were told by staff it was not, or at least has never been designated as historic. That was when Landgraf mentioned its history with Johnson, the inspiration for the character Nucky Thompson on HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” played by Steve Buscemi.
The church has a deeper history than its tangential connection to “Boardwalk Empire.”
It was the base for Sister Jean Webster’s efforts to feed the hungry in Atlantic City. At its height, her kitchen fed hundreds of people a day.
Webster died in 2011, while the Friends of Jean Webster continues to operate a food pantry nearby. Flood damage to the original church, the COVID-19 pandemic and other setbacks have prevented the return of hot meals.
The red stone church building has two cornerstones, one from 1856, a second as “First Presbyterian Church” from 1909. In May 1956, a time capsule was buried at the site, set to be opened a century later, with another 32 years to go.
From 1989 to 2018, the building served as home to Victory First Presbyterian Deliverance Church. It saw significant flood damage from Superstorm Sandy in 2012, according to published reports, and the congregation eventually relocated to a new home.
Hope Wiseman, one of the principles of the company opening the new cannabis location, said at a recent planning hearing that she is also the founder and CEO of a cannabis business in Maryland.
“We’re super excited about revitalizing this property and making sure that we’re active community members,” she said, according to a posted transcript of the planning hearing held May 2. The company received a state license to sell cannabis in 2023.
Alcohol cannot be served in licensed cannabis businesses, Landgraf told the CRDA board. Plans call for event space and education areas inside, in addition to the retail space.
The proposal also includes the third proposed consumption lounge in Atlantic City, with indoor and outdoor consumption spaces. The plan includes two patios where customers can sit outside and use the cannabis purchased at the site.
The application is unusual in another sense. The closest neighbor for the proposed use is the CRDA building, which is across a parking lot from the former church.
In the past, CRDA board members have raised concerns about locating cannabis stores near churches, schools and other uses. One board member questioned whether the outdoor consumption would bother CRDA employees on their lunch break.
Mike Beson voted against the application, the lone “no” vote.
Cannabis businesses are an approved use in much of Atlantic City, within a wide-ranging “Green Zone” that includes most commercial areas of the city. The Pennsylvania Avenue site needed variances for parking and site coverage but not for the use or the size of the building.
The board also approved Garden Organics LLC for an upstairs indoor cultivation site at the current location at 3112 Atlantic Ave., open as Legal Distribution.
Landgraf discussed security measures required of all cannabis businesses but said the CRDA has dropped one requirement — that businesses have security on site more than an hour before opening. The first legal sales in 2022 saw lengthy lines, but that is no longer the case as the availability has increased, with more than 120 now open statewide. Camden County has the most, with 17, and 13 are listed in Atlantic County.
There is at least one dispensary in all 21 counties, and Cape May County saw its second open this month, Sea and Leaf in Lower Township. City Leaves also opened in Egg Harbor Township.
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