- Credibility:
CITY HALL — Cresco Labs cleared another hurdle to moving their Wrigleyville Sunnyside pot shop into a mammoth new home on Clark Street.
The zoning change necessary for the move into the John Barleycorn bar at 3524 N. Clark St., was approved by City Council on Wednesday, but the dispensary owners will also need a special-use permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals before they can sell recreational weed at the site.
The ordinance was set to be voted on at December’s City Council meeting but was held back by Zoning Chairman and Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), whose ward includes the dispensary.
Also in December, the ordinance to approve the pot shop narrowly advanced out of committee in a 7-5 vote after a contentious debate over minority ownership in the cannabis industry.
Cresco Labs currently operates a dual-use dispensary at 3812 N. Clark St., which was rebranded as Sunnyside. If approved, they plan to move that dispensary to the 3524 N. Clark St. location.
Their current dispensary has had waits as long as seven hours in the weeks since legal weed sales began.
If they are able to open at the Barleycorn site, replacing the bar, Joseph Caltabiano, president of the company, told Block Club in December that it will be massive. The building is also a short walk from Wrigley Field.
“This will be one of the largest dispensaries in the world and Chicago has the opportunity to have that and employ people from all walks of life in that store,” he said.
Cresco Labs is also still waiting to receive word from the state on whether they will be allowed to sell recreational pot at the location because of a narrow reading of state law that legalized pot that would not allow medical shops to sell recreational weed if they relocate.
Cresco Labs received a special-use permit for medical sales for the 3524 N. Clark St. location from the Zoning Board of Appeals this fall on the condition they return to the body for a permit for recreational weed sales.
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