Plan For Loop’s 2nd Weed Dispensary Could Go Up In Smoke

THE LOOP — A proposed cannabis dispensary that could become the Loop’s second is facing two hurdles: another required community meeting and a court ruling that could force it to relocate.

Contra LLC, which seeks to open a dispensary at 170 W. Washington St., will not advance out of the City Council’s zoning committee Tuesday after failing to meet public notice requirements for its community meeting, said Patrick Murphey, the city’s zoning administrator.

Proposed dispensaries must host a community meeting where they mail notices of the meeting to property owners within 250 feet of the site and publish a newspaper notice at least two weeks beforehand. Ald. Bill Conway’s (34th) office confirmed Contra LLC did not provide enough advance notice.

And the dispensary could face a more significant obstacle following a court ruling last month that found cannabis dispensaries cannot open within 1,500 feet of one another, even when both are operated by social equity license holders. 

Contra LLC’s proposed location is within 1,500 feet of Bud & Rita’s, a social equity dispensary that opened this summer at 105 W. Madison St. Contra is also pursuing the project under a social equity license, Conway said.

Sonia Antolec, an attorney for Contra, didn’t respond to requests for comment on how the ruling could affect the proposed dispensary. Richard Ho, who is named as a manager in public records, could not be reached.

Bud & Rita’s representatives declined to comment.

The recent ruling blocked Bloc Dispensary from opening a shop in the South Loop at 400 S. Wells St. after a nearby dispensary sued, arguing that the location, only 470 feet away, violated state law, Crain’s reported.

State law generally prohibits a cannabis dispensary from opening within 1,500 feet of another dispensary. The restriction is intended to prevent cannabis businesses from clustering too closely together and saturating the market. The law includes limited exceptions for some social equity licenses, allowing them to open near dispensaries that are not operating under social equity licenses.

However, the ruling by Cook County Circuit Court Judge Patrick Stanton found that the exception does not apply when both dispensaries have social equity licenses.

Whether Contra LLC will be allowed to open is in the hands of the state, which enforces the distancing rule, Murphey said in a message.

The Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation, which monitors and regulates the state’s cannabis licenses, declined to comment on Contra LLC. 

“The department continues to assess the implications of the court’s order,” a spokesperson said in an email Monday.

The ruling could also deal a blow to Conway’s ambition to see more weed shops in the Central Business District and the Loop proper, which had been largely off-limits to dispensaries when recreational sales were legalized because that area had an “exclusionary zone.” Conway changed city rules in 2024 to make it easier for weed shops to fill vacant storefronts in the district by allowing proposed dispensaries Downtown to get zoning changes approved by City Council rather than the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals.

The change paved the way for Bud & Rita’s to open in the Loop, despite being within 500 feet of a school that was on floors three through seven of 79 W. Monroe St. That would not have been allowed previously due to city restrictions.

Conway argued the same rule was more complicated for a dense neighborhood like the Loop, where schools, offices, retail spaces and residential buildings can stack on top of one another. 

When asked if he would support Contra, which would be in his ward, Conway deferred to the state and said he would “not allow someone to open in violation of state law.”