DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018
146TH YEAR, NO. 97
ONE DOLLAR
Marketplace
at former
J.C. Penney
still forming
Developers waiting
on designers, permits
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The backers of the Astoria Oregon Mar-
ketplace, a proposed food court and tap house
inside the former J.C. Penney store down-
town, originally wanted to open last month.
But aside from some demolition, the space
has remained mostly empty.
The developers behind the project say they
have been set back by a shortage of designers
and a changeover in city staff.
“Right now, I’m just waiting on the
designers and getting permits,” said Sean
Fitzpatrick, owner of the Illahee Apartments
and the marketplace.
The city recently changed building inspec-
tors after a retirement. Tony Clifton, the new
official, said he walked through the space late
last month and is waiting on plans from Fitz-
patrick’s architect.
Fitzpatrick is partnering with Chris Holen,
a local chef and co-owner of Baked Alaska.
Holen is in charge of building out a tap house
with 50 beers, wines and ciders he and wife,
Jennifer, recently registered with the state as
Pouriin.
Holen is also in charge of recruiting food
vendors. Two have mostly committed to
moving in, including an Asian noodle house
and a Thai or Cuban fusion restaurant, he
said.
“They’re quite committed, but we’ve yet
to sign a lease,” he said.
The partners have largely held back on
building out the space until designers pro-
vide the final plans and they hear back on
the new building official’s interpretation of
city codes. The tap house build-out is largely
on hold until the marketplace can prove to
the state it has adequate food service on site,
but the process of permitting the tap house
should only take about eight weeks, Holen
said.
“I think our biggest issue that came up
was just making sure the building is going to
be sprinklered,” Clifton said of the four or so
hood vents the marketplace will install.
The building also needs to go through a
change of occupancy from mercantile to an
assembly space, Clifton said. The partners
are not making any alterations to the historic
building and will thus be able to avoid adding
an elevator, he said.
The delays are simply a matter of his
designers getting busy after the marketplace
was first announced, Fitzpatrick said. He
would not hazard a guess as to a new time-
line for when the marketplace might open.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
From left, Chris Holen, Sean Fitzpatrick
and Shannon Fitzpatrick discussed reno-
vations to the former J.C. Penney store in
downtown Astoria last June.
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Dallas Matuszek fills an order for a customer at Sweet Relief in Astoria.
Pot dispensaries find
strength in numbers
Area retailers
consolidate as a new
industry evolves
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
S
igns for Mr. Nice Guy, an ode to
the 1998 stoner comedy “Half
Baked,” recently began popping
up in Astoria.
The marijuana retailer has merged
with a sister company, Hi Cascade,
absorbing its location at the foot of the
South Slope. Mr. Nice Guy will open
another store next month on Bond Street
downtown.
The new addition to Astoria’s grow-
ing number of marijuana stores is also
part of a trend toward consolidation, as
many shops try to weather a weak mar-
ket, sometimes taking on outside invest-
ment capital.
Will Wiedenmann, an assistant direc-
tor of operations with Mr. Nice Guy, said
the two companies’ ownership felt they
needed to make a universal brand behind
Mr. Nice Guy. The company now has 16
locations in Oregon, including former
Hi Cascades.
“Strength in numbers is a big thing,”
Wiedenmann said.
Five Zero Trees, a Portland-based
retailer that recently opened stores in
Cannon Beach and Astoria, has six loca-
tions on the North Coast and around
Portland. Sweet Relief has five locations
on the North Coast and inland to Colum-
bia County. Cannabis Nation, with a
location in Seaside, has four stores
around the state.
Marijuana stores have faced increas-
The exterior of the Mr. Nice Guy marijuana shop in Astoria features an elab-
orate mural.
ingly tight margins since overproduction
after the drug was legalized in Oregon
led to a sharp decline in prices. Having
more places to sell allows retail chains
to buy at a larger scale for a lower price,
said Beau Whitney, a cannabis econo-
mist with New Frontier Data.
“That creates a pricing differential
relative to the smaller mom and pops
that don’t have the purchasing power,”
he said. “To me, this is a natural evo-
lution of the market. It’s starting to
increase now lately.”
It seemed like Oregon was reaching
saturation when it recorded nearly 600
dispensaries, Whitney said. But the state
had focused on getting more licensees
and offering lower entry fees to help take
consumers away from the illicit market.
“In retrospect, when you think about
it, having unlimited licenses in a closed
environment … at some point there was
naturally going to be a consolidation in
the marketplace,” Whitney said.
State regulators in June placed a
moratorium on new licensees until they
can work through the backlog of appli-
cants seeking entry into the marijuana
industry. That backlog is exacerbated
by companies changing ownership as
they take on investors, Whitney said.
The process was made easier by the
state Legislature in 2016 rolling back
requirements that more than half of a
marijuana store be owned by an Oregon
resident.
See DISPENSARIES, Page 5A
Cannon Beach policy limits
firefighters on outside calls
Fire chief
opposes change
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Cannon Beach Fire Chief Matt Benedict opposes restrictions
on when firefighters can be sent to help fight regional fires.
CANNON BEACH — As
Clatsop County firefighters
help battle the deadly Camp
Fire in Northern California,
the Cannon Beach Rural Fire
Protection District narrowly
passed a new policy on Mon-
day limiting how often fire-
fighters can be sent to fight
fires in other places.
In a 3-2 vote, the fire dis-
trict’s board decided that from
June through October, the
fire chief or other firefighters
will only be able to be out on
other calls 15 days out of any
30-day period, and can only be
deployed within Oregon.
Reshaping the mobiliza-
tion policy was born out of
concern some board members
had about the amount of time
Fire Chief Matt Benedict spent
helping fight fires around the
state and California last sum-
mer — the season, some board
members argue, where the fire
district needs a fire chief most.
Summer is typically when the
fire district sees a higher emer-
gency call volume and faces
more fire danger.
The change comes after
two unusually active fire sea-
sons, prompting a record num-
ber of county firefighters to be
mobilized around the state and
California.
With experts predicting
that longer and drier fire sea-
sons could be the new normal
for the West, some on the fire
See POLICY, Page 5A