Another pot shop looks to open in River North

With pot just days away from being fully legalized in Illinois, another company has applied to build a dispensary in River North, just a few blocks from the Mag Mile.

Logan Square-based MOCA Modern Cannabis is the third company to apply to sell weed in prime spots just outside the exclusion zone for dispensaries stretching between Division and Van Buren streets, and from Lake Michigan to State Street.

The company, which already runs a medical pot dispensary at 2847 W. Fullerton, submitted a zoning application Dec. 12 for an adult-use cannabis dispensary at 214-232 W. Ohio Street, according to the Chicago Zoning Board of Appeals.

The location is a 21,200 sq. ft. mixed-use 5-story building about a block from the Ohio feeder ramp. It’s unclear how much of the building MOCA leases or owns.

MOCA owner Danny Marks, who also co-owns Emporium Arcade Bar, did not immediately return messages from the Sun-Times.

MOCA won big in a state-run lottery to distribute new recreational weed dispensaries among seven zones across the city, snatching up one of seven spots in the coveted central district.

Cresco Labs and Greenhouse Group both applied Dec. 6 to build a new location each in the district.

MOCA will have to attend a community meeting before going before the zoning board. If the shop gets approval, no other stores will be able to open with 1,500 feet of it, according to city zoning rules.

MOCA applied last week to expand its Logan Square location by 1,300 square feet, but the application was deferred by the zoning board because the company did not provide economic disclosure statements from all of its owners, Block Club Chicago reported.

Illinois has 55 current medical dispensaries, and as part of the state’s legalization law, each of them are allowed to be converted into dual-use stores. Each existing dispensary is also allowed to open another store that sells only recreational weed.

No standalone recreational dispensary is expected to be open for business when recreational pot sales start on Jan. 1.