A pot shop could replace the long-vacant former Exxon station in Red Bank if approved by the borough planning board Monday night.
The site, at the juncture of Rector Place, Bridge Avenue and Riverside Avenue, has been considered an eyesore for years. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
The Garden at Red Bank, a cannabis business, needs a conditional-use OK from the board for its plan to build a one-story, 2,542-square-foot structure on site at the town’s northern gateway, where Route 35 (Riverside Avenue) meets Rector Place and Bridge Avenue.
The plan calls for 31 parking spaces, landscaping improvements and more.
A January filing with the New Jersey Secretary of State identifies the management of Garden at Red Bank LLC as Jamie Dinar, of “Long Beach, NJ,” though the zip code included is for Long Branch.
The business joins a budding race to be the first legal marijuana dealer to open in town. So far, three cannabis shops have cleared reviews by the planning board and the borough’s new Cannabis Review Board, leading to the issuance of licenses last month by the council. They are:
• Monteverde NJ at 45 North Bridge Avenue, a former dry cleaner’s shop
• The Frosted Nug, planning to open in the space formerly occupied by the China Moon Restaurant in the Crate’s Liquors strip mall, also on North Bridge
• Canopy Crossroad, which would abut Red Bank Liquors at 9 West Street.
None has yet opened.
If approved by the planning board, the Garden at Red Bank also would have to go before the local CRB.
After years of litigation and plan revisions, a six-story Hampton Inn hotel won planning board approval for the former Exxon site in 2017, but was never built. After the death of the would-be developer, the site was acquired in 2021 by a limited liability company registered by Janice Esdale of Union.
Here’s the full agenda. The board meets at 7 p.m. Monday at borough hall, 90 Monmouth Street. Viewing is also available on the borough’s Facebook page.
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