Get all your news in one place.

100's of premium titles.
One app.

Start reading

Get all your news in one place.

100's of premium titles. One news app.

Start reading

Chicago Sun-Times

Business

Tom Schuba

Marijuana businesses eye new shops on Randolph, Weed streets as Chicago’s green rush heats up

Customers shop for recreational marijuana at The Herbal Care Center, 1301 S. Western Ave. in Chicago, Wednesday, Jan. 1 2020. | Brian Rich/Sun-Times

Now that recreational marijuana sales are up and running at nine dispensaries in Chicago, the next wave of the Windy City green rush is on.

New weed shops could sprout along Randolph Street’s restaurant row in the West Loop, in the same building as a celebrated restaurant in River North, on 35th Street less than a mile west of Sox park and — no joke — on Weed Street in Lincoln Park.

Six companies have submitted a total of 20 locations for the next 13 dispensaries set to open citywide, records show. So not all of those spots will go through the zoning process. Some companies appear to have filed for multiple addresses in case locations get rejected or don’t pan out.

The 13 new shops will be standalone dispensaries. Those licenses aren’t contingent on them selling medical marijuana.

Under the new Illinois law legalizing recreational marijuana, each of the state’s 55 medical dispensaries can earn licenses to also sell recreational marijuana. And each existing dispensary can open another store selling only recreational weed.

The rush to secure prime locations for the first standalone dispensaries in Chicago started soon after a City Hall lottery to determine where companies could set up new shops, according to zoning application letters.

Companies’ names were drawn at random during the November lottery. Each then had to choose one of seven different districts — central, north, northwest, west, southeast, southwest or far south — in which it wanted to set up shop. Some companies have multiple dispensaries statewide, so they had multiple picks in the lottery.

Within weeks of the lottery, six companies flooded City Hall with applications.

Their representatives either wouldn’t comment or couldn’t be reached.

Companies must hold public hearings on proposed sites before the city signs off on any address, three of which have previously been made public.

First pick in the lottery went to Cresco Labs, which selected a location in the district that includes parts of downtown and River North.

City zoning bans weed sales in much of the central district and prevent dispensaries from opening within 1,500 feet of one another.

Cresco immediately submitted a zoning application to operate inside an ivy-covered, red brick building at 60 W. Superior St. and also sought approval for two other central district locations.

Cresco Labs and Greenhouse Group are seeking zoning approval to open a recreational marijuana dispensary at 60 W. Superior St.

Three days after Cresco’s letter about the Superior Street location, Greenhouse Group — which also won a central district location through the lottery — also applied for zoning at 60 W. Superior St. That was one of six addresses Greenhouse proposed in the central district. Others include the 100 E. Ontario St. building that’s home to Lawry’s The Prime Rib, a storied Chicago restaurant, and 612 N. Wells St., once occupied by Carson’s Ribs.

Greenhouse also won a lottery spot in the southwest district, where it has submitted one location for zoning approval: 901 W. 35th St., near Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the White Sox.

Greenhouse Group is looking to open a recreational marijuana shop at 100 E. Ontario St., where Lawry’s The Prime Rib is located.

Windy City Cannabis is seeking single locations in the north and west districts. It has sought zoning for four locations in each, including 807 W. Randolph St., which has a salon and spa on the ground floor and is next to Girl and the Goat, the restaurant owned by James Beard Award-winning chef Stephanie Izard.

MOCA also secured a spot in the central district and is eyeing a huge retail space at 214-232 W. Ohio St. in Streeterville.