South Jersey BIZ - Issue #4 (April 2024)

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SJBiz_BizinBrief_0424 half pg_BizinBrief 4 / 8 / 24 4 : 05 PM Page 2 PRESENTED BY On April 3 , a ribbon - cutting ceremony cele - brated the introduction of new affordable senior housing in Camden’s Cramer Hill . The Harrison , developed by The Michaels Organ - ization , is a $ 16.3 million development inte - grating 55 age - restricted apartments with an array of health , wellness and activity options . It is the second of four phases in the $ 165 mil - lion redevelopment of Ablett Village , Cam - den’s oldest public housing community , with an expected summer 2024 start on the final two development phases . Cherry Hill's 309 miles of paved streets are about to undergo a significant overhaul , with the town preparing to spend an estimated $ 10 million on repairs this year , a sizable in - crease from 2023 ' s $ 8.1 million in fixing its roadways and 2022 ' s $ 3.4 million price tag . Stockton University is continuing to test how viable a New Jersey maple - syrup industry could be . The college is now in its fourth year of using a $ 1 million grant from the U.S . De - partment of Agriculture to tap syrup from the 300 acres of red maple trees around the school , each of which contain about half the sugar of a Vermont maple . Law firm BorgerMatez , P.A . , has joined the firm of Weir Greenblatt Pierce LLP ( WGP ) . All five attorneys from BorgerMatez have joined WGP in its Haddonfield office and the com - bined firm will continue to operate as Weir Greenblatt Pierce LLP . The Camden - based nonprofit Hopeworks expanded its mission helping young adults find long - term , living - wage careers with its inaugural H.O.P.E . Summit last month , show - casing impactful panel discussions , network - ing opportunities and interactive workshops that focused on critical skills like digital liter - acy , professional development and navigat - ing AI . The South Jersey Port Corporation , with ports in Paulsboro and Salem , is expecting a 25 % increase in cargo volume as a result of the recent collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge . DIGroup Architecture will once again work on a Camden school , as the local firm has been tasked with designing the city’s new Eastside High School . Eastside is planned for continued on page 40 SouthJerseyBiz.net | VOLUME 14 ISSUE 4 | SOUTH JERSEY BIZ | 15

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Biz 424 Cannabis Dept - FINAL_Dept 4 / 8 / 24 3 : 42 PM Page 1 C A N N A B I Z that’s just not the case . They’ve issued over 1,000 licenses . I think the failure rate , unfortunately , on those licenses is going to be quite high in the next couple of years . ” New Jersey’s dispensaries aren’t yet Firing Up filled with drinks and confections , nor is there an easy way to compare options or handle money . While the state’s dispensaries As New Jersey bears witness to an emerging cannabis typicallydo extend an elevated customer - industry , local experts analyze what has been service experience , they are comparable established to both contextualize and anticipate what to pharmacies with a focus on structure and security . Of course , both versions have comes next . [ by Carly Murray ] their pros and cons : New York , for instance , seems to have a number of weed stores ew Jersey’s emerging cannabis industry has seen a number of rivaling its amount of Starbucks locations , successes thus far , reaching milestones like surpassing $ 2 billion in but there isn’t an easily accessible directory salessince 2018 and dispensary locations recently skyrocketing past N or information distinguishing those with 100 listings on the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission genuine THC products versus less effective ( NJ - CRC ) directory . According to the commission , $ 1.3 billion of sales are options like Delta - 8 . attributed to the recreational market that came to fruition in April 2022 , with the Competition can be an asset , as busi - remainderderived from the medical market . nesses may find success in creative incen - But the industry’s expansion is just getting started . New Jersey has played a tives , bespoke experiences or , at this stage , prominentrole in spearheading both medicinal and recreational cannabis on the unique products . The potential for ex - East Coast , largely due to the regulation , legislation , establishment of careers panded cultivation in The Garden State and educational programs pioneering the industry’s development . However , may improve the market from all perspec - costs , restrictions and municipalities ’ discretion have prevented the landscape tives . from imitating long - established markets in early - adopter states like Colorado or “ Part of the reason for the high prices California . Those marijuana legacy operators , among others , have significantly of legal cannabis in New Jersey is the lower prices , higher product potency , more options and fewer barriers to entry multiple regulations that are required for breaking into the field . before the product is put out for sale : The “ I have this conversation with clients every day , ” says Seth R . Tipton , Esq . , a marijuana must be grown organically , it partner at Florio Perrucci Steinhardt Cappelli & Tipton LLC . “ If you’re doing any must be tested and the contents labeled type of fundraising , or any type of predictive modeling to figure out what you accurately , it must be packaged appropri - need , how much you need and how you’re going to pay for it , the fundamental ately , and the entire facility must meet thingthat goes into that planning is predicting the price of flower , which dictates very rigid security requirements , ” says Ken the price of everything that’s going to be made in the market . The price is still Wolski , RN , MPA , executive director of relativelyhigh compared to other markets . For example , I was just in Massachusetts the Coalition for Medical Marijuana — New and Rhode Island speaking to growers there , and their prices are substantially Jersey , Inc . “ I , for one , am OK paying the lower than New Jersey’s — almost too low , frankly , to support their market . price for the New Jersey legal cannabis Jersey’s is still pretty high ; it will come down . More growers are coming online . because I know exactly what it is that I am Theother side of the coin on this is that there’s an assumption in the public that getting and putting into my body . This every license issued from the CRC is going to become an active license — and was never possible with the legacy market . As the cannabis industry expands in N.J . , competition may bring the prices down somewhat . Federal descheduling of mari - juana should help with prices , but it is not certain that the DEA will even reschedule marijuana anytime soon . But the real need is for insurance coverage for medical cannabis , so patients can just pay a copay amount , say $ 15 for it . And , of course , a home - grow option . ” While meticulous oversight has built the cannabis market in New Jersey to this point , a common sentiment from customers and professionals is that they wish it could be more laissez - faire . Sheila M . Mints , chair of Cannabis Law and Healthcare Practices at the law firm Capehart Scatchard , explains that another consistently rigorous process for cannabis professionals is maintaining security . 16 | SOUTH JERSEY BIZ | VOLUME 14 ISSUE 4 | SouthJerseyBiz.net

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