A cannabis dispensary slated for a new location on Bloomfield Avenue received a green light from the Montclair Planning Board Monday. Infused with the discussion of parking and signage was a local resident’s enthusiasm for a budding business.
Kush Connection, a play on the Kushner family name, got the board’s approval for a 2,500 square foot retail cannabis store at 665-679 Bloomfield Ave. Kush Connection’s theme takes a nod from his Montclair parents’ decades of work in the music industry, said Jake Kushner, who will manage the shop.
“Our dispensary is going to be very music oriented,” Kushner said after the board’s decision. “You go in, you might see signed guitars on the wall. We might have some interesting associations with the music industry from my family’s past. It’s going to be very cool. It’s going to be something that stands out.”
New Location
His parents are Steve and Patty Steele Kushner. The planning board approved the application by a 5-0 vote, which included a “yes” from all the members of the nine-person board in attendance. Jake Kushner said they plan to have the dispensary open by December of this year. The board’s approval follows a prior plan to establish Kush Connection on Valley Road, across from Tierney’s Tavern.
The new location on Bloomfield Avenue is at the former DeCozen Chrysler Jeep Dodge car dealership.
“My client felt that it was a substantially better location for his business for a variety of reasons,” said Alan Trembulak, the attorney representing Kush Connection. “Most importantly, really, is the fact that this is one of the very few locations on Bloomfield Avenue that actually has any on-site parking.”
Trembulak told the board the plan calls for 29 parking spaces, including four spaces for electric vehicle chargers. While the requirement is for 36 spaces – something the board granted a variance for – the electric vehicle charging stations give Kush Connection a credit of an additional four spaces, he said.
Trembulak said his client plans to sub-lease the remaining space to other retail businesses. He did not specify what those other retailers would be.
What it Will Look Like
The entire single-story building is 6,994 square feet with mostly a brick and stucco exterior and glass storefront, said Ryan Robertson architect for Kush Connection.
J. Michael Petry, an engineer for the applicant, said they require a series of sign variances, including for a wall sign that extends beyond the storefront, a sign for Kush Connection that would be placed on the front of the building later, and a freestanding sign.
“The idea of placing of placing a sign on the canopy that parallels Bloomfield Avenue is a good one from my perspective because it will alert the people who are arriving to the site where the entrance to that space actually is,” Petry said.
Board members also discussed placing no left turn signs at the site.
Councilor-at-Large and planning board member Carmel Loughman led the meeting in the absence of the board’s chair and vice chair.
“This does seem to be a very good use of this facility. You’ve covered all the bases, so to speak,” Loughman told the applicant. “This will bring in some property tax revenue that we have not been receiving in the 15 – 20 years that this has been vacant.”
Approval of the cannabis establishment follows the departure of Ascend Cannabis Dispensary, which in 2023 announced that it was leaving Montclair a little over a year after becoming the town’s first adult-use recreational dispensary.
Lounge Considered
It also comes as the local cannabis cultivation facility, Genuine Grow, headed up by Montclair’s Andrew Marshall, expands its space on Pine Street. Jake Kushner said he will be using Marshall’s product.
“They will be one of our brands,” said Kushner, who is a high school friend of Marshall. “And we intend to market that brand very heavily just because it’s Montclair product. We love to be able to say we have a product that is grown in Montclair and is sold in Montclair.”
Ideas for future expansion, Jake Kushner said, could include not just selling cannabis but offering a place to smoke it.
“What we’d love to do is open a lounge. It’s become very popular at dispensaries in other states. And I believe they have one in Newark that’s done very well,” he said, referring to Wu-Tang rapper Raekwon’s dispensary and lounge, Hashtoria. “I’d love to do something similar for Montclair. I think Montclair would really love it. I think it would fit in with Montclair’s landscape.”