An effort to oppose what could be the first recreational cannabis dispensary in the Bronx failed at a Community Board 11 meeting Tuesday night.
Cousins-turned-business partners Levent Ozkurt and Denis Ozkurt have plans to open the New York City Cannabis Emporium, a retail dispensary at 2460 Williamsbridge Road in the Allerton section of the Bronx. The dispensary is the first location that has been approved by the New York Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) to submit plans to a community board in the Bronx, which is a required step toward opening dispensary doors in the city, an OCM spokesperson confirmed with the Bronx Times.
While 15 other applicants have also been granted provisional dispensary licenses for the Bronx, only two have site locations approved by OCM, though they haven’t submitted to their corresponding community boards yet, according to the OCM spokesperson. The spokesperson would not disclose the other potential sites.
The Ozkurts obtained their provisional license in April through OCM’s Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary program, for which applicants either had a cannabis conviction in New York state or are related to someone who had a cannabis conviction in New York, and have also had ownership of a profitable business for at least two years. Nonprofits with a history of working with formerly incarcerated people are also eligible.
Deniz Ozkurt, who OCM considers a “justice-involved applicant,” was previously convicted of marijuana-related offenses and has owned and operated Maximus Electric Inc., a wiring and electrical services company, for five years. Levent Ozkurt, who owns the dispensary site, is a real estate developer. They both grew up in the Bronx but are no longer residents of the borough, Levent Ozkurt told the Bronx Times.
“When I found out we were approved, I was excited to be a part of this growing community,” Deniz Ozkurt told the Bronx Times. “I believe that with increasing legal access and proper…
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