Uncle Ike’s 15th Ave E (Image: CHS)

Filings with the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board indicate that Uncle Ike’s founder Ian Eisenberg is reorganizing the corporations and partnerships behind one of Seattle’s largest marijuana retailers as the chain is preparing to open a new Capitol Hill location later this year.

The applications for a transfer of existing licenses to a new Jet City Retail corporation were filed earlier this month.

Typically, assumption applications are part of the acquisition process for a new owner of an existing licensed business. But for the five applications filed May 7th for the various Uncle Ike’s locations around the city, the process appears to be corporate housekeeping and consolidating of the various limited liability corporations and companies brought together to form the various Ike’s entities.

Jet City Retail’s articles of incorporation filed in April initially listed only a Seattle cannabis industry lawyer but Eisenberg was added as a director last week after CHS’s inquiry about the company’s applications with the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board. The board says it will provide more information about the application in June through it public disclosure request process.

Neither the lawyer now Eisenberg have responded to CHS’s questions about the filings.

If you would like to comment on the license applications, you can email customerservice@lcb.wa.gov. Comments should include the trade name, license number, and address from the applications.

Last summer, CHS reported on the start of delayed construction to create Uncle Ike’s “Capitol Hill West” shop in an overhauled office building next do The Crescent. That project was further delayed this spring during the COVID-19 restrictions on construction.

Pot entrepreneur Eisenberg paid more than $2 million for the two-story, 1967-era property in the fall of 2017 as a land rush for E Olive Way properties played out after shifting laws and policies opened up the street to I-502 pot development. Ike’s E Olive Way competitor and CHS advertiser The Reef, meanwhile, opened in the former Amante Pizza location in August 2018.

Eisenberg opened the original Uncle Ike’s, the city’s second ever legal pot shop, at 23rd and Union in 2014, and added a second Central Seattle Uncle Ike’s on 15th Ave E in late 2016. Late last year as Ike’s geared up for the Capitol Hill expansion, Eisenberg also snapped up a location Lake City Way. He also has plans for a new business near his Central District Ike’s where the Neighbor Lady bar lost its lease and Eisenberg has formed a new Uncle Ike’s Liquor, LLC for the address.

Pot has been a growth industry during the pandemic. In March, Eisenberg saw sales at his flagship Central District location jumpe more than 20% over February as part of an industrywide uptick in spending on pot and booze during the COVID-19 lockdown. Still, sales at the 23rd and Union shop have flagged from its earliest highs..

HELP CHS COVER THE COVID-19 CRISIS — SUBSCRIBE TODAY: Support local journalism dedicated to your neighborhood. SUBSCRIBE HERE. Join to become a subscriber at $1/$5/$10 a month to help CHS provide community news with NO PAYWALL. You can also sign up for a one-time annual payment. HELP TELL THE LOCAL STORY — More here.