HARLEM, NY — A legal weed dispensary slated to open across from The Apollo faces a legal challenge from a Harlem business group that would stick it outside the State Building instead, court records show.
The Harlem business group hopes to block retailer Gotham Buds from opening a pot shop at 248 W. 125th St., a location they say is too close to a city landmark and several schools, according to the suit filed this week against the state and attorney David Blumenstein.
Blumenstein, representing the 125th Street Business District Management Association, told Patch he also questions the “opaque” approval process for the dispensary.
Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.
“There was no transparency in the process for picking a site, and the law, rules, regulations, and guidance were not followed,” Blumenstein said. “The location is inappropriate because it is central to youths of all ages.”
Aaron Ghitelman, a spokesperson for the Cannabis Management office, told Patch that the state’s weed department “does not comment on pending litigation.”
Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.
The lawsuit raises concerns about the would-be pot shop’s location steps away from the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, the Manhattan Office of Student Suspensions and the Streetwork Harlem Drop-In Center for homeless kids.
Instead, the BID argues the incoming dispensary would be better placed on the plaza outside the state building on 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, where it could be monitored by state troopers.
It also points out the storefront’s reported landlord Fata Organization, a group that owns several nearby businesses, among them a Lenox Avenue smoke shop where a retired cop was shot last year.
Patch was not able to reach the Fata Organization for comment, but a spokesperson for the state Dormitory Authority, which chooses legal dispensary locations, told the New York Times it only vets locations, not landlords.
Court records show even Roberto Fata, identified in Buildings department records as managing member of the organization, worries about safety.
When Fata applied to renew a limited-carry handgun license in 2018, he argued he needed a weapon because he did business “in an area which is a high crime all the time.”
Years later, Fata’s request was denied.
Click Here: cheap bulldogs jersey
Should the BID’s block fail, Gotham Buds — a luxury clothing retailer that also produces hip-hop and sells cannabis accessories — will open at 248 W. 125th St., Blumenstein told Patch.
Gotham Buds did not immediately respond to Patch’s request for comment, but a press release confirms they’ve been licensed by the state.
This news likely does not come welcome to participants in a January Community Board 10 meeting who spoke out against bringing a new weed retailer to the already-busy 125th Street.
“We’ve been fighting for a long time to clean up the 125th Street corridor,” one speaker said during the Community Board 10 meeting at the time.
“It’s not about being anti-cannabis, it’s about being anti where you’ve proposed to put this dispensary.”
A Dormitory Authority told the group the dispensary would have high security and would “bring good community commerce to the area.”
The effect of legal cannabis sales on crime has yet to be truly determined, with some research finding no effect and a CUNY study finding a big one.
Streets near cannabis dispensaries in Denver saw “significantly higher levels of property crime,” the 2019 study states.
Perhaps that’s why the lawsuit concludes with a request to permanently block any dispensaries from opening up at the address.
“The BID does not oppose a retail dispensary in Harlem or on 125th Street,” the lawsuit reads.
“However, the BID considers this designated location for a subject dispensary irredeemable and unwarranted as it will impact public safety, sanitation, the business environments, and the well-being of children.”
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.