Chris Aponte Finds Own Path to Success
Image of Chris Aponte by AC JosepH Media
BY CLYDE HUGHES | AC JosepH Media
PRINCETON — It is not lost on Chris Aponte that his journey from an at-risk youth in Atlantic County to a local deal-making real estate executive who helped pull off the sale of the ACX 1 Studios Pier at Caesar’s Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City nearly two years ago has been a long one.
He also realizes his efforts to open AC Leef, one of Atlantic City’s newest cannabis outlets, represented the struggle individuals like himself must still endure to open up a legal business – but one worth taking.
Last month, Aponte attended the African American Chamber of Commerce Economic Summit in Princeton to hear gubernatorial leaders speaking at the event and looking for his next business opportunity.
“I had developed a project for the [Caesar’s] pier,” Aponte told Front Runner New Jersey at the summit. “I do commercial real estate development. I started out with Keller Williams doing 100 listings in 10 months.
“I started to transition into my career in commercial development, became a one-time listing agent for the World Trade Center. Then from there, I got the opportunity for the pier. And two years ago, I closed on the pier with six other partners.”
Music and multimedia executive Rob Schwartz has been the name most closely associated with the reimagining of the massive 550,000 square foot space once owned by Showboat Hotel owner Bart Blatstein. The mall, which sits over the Atlantic Ocean and connected to the Caesars Hotel and Casino, is now being used for television and movie production as well as social media production spaces for audio and video.
Aponte, a native of Atlantic City with little means who attended Ocean City High School, said the project brought him full circle.
“The pier was one of my biggest achievements,” Aponte said. “Thinking about it, I was 21 and I wasn’t good enough to even qualify to clean the toilets at the same casino, but now I’m partners with them at age 41.”
Aponte said cannabis is providing a new opportunity to many – particularly people of color – to get in on the ground floor of a growing new business. His new dispensary, AC Leef on Albany Avenue in Atlantic City, faces numerous legal hurdles before opening.
“Fortunately, the council and mayor [Marty Small] came to my support and the community as a whole came to our support,” Aponte said. “It’s been very successful. We’ve had a quarter-million in sales over our first 90 days.”
Aponte now uses his presence as a testimonial to other at-risk youths that they can turn their lives around. He talked about having three felonies at age 19, which caused him to face numerous employment hurdles before his records were expunged.
“I stayed persistent and consistent to do the right thing and nothing was going to stop me if I really wanted to follow my dream,” Aponte said. “Now I’m an example of coming from having three felonies at the age of 19 years old to becoming a commercial developer and owner of a dispensary, a single father who owns his own home in Atlantic City.
“I feel like it’s a story that everyone needs know about to just empower young people to keep going and achieve their dreams no matter what they’ve been through.”
Aponte still has strong Atlantic City roots. His father retired from the Golden Nugget Atlantic City Hotel and Casino. His son attends Atlantic City High School. His brother is a local mechanic.
Aponte said his past is what led him to his success. He said two meetings in his 20s changed his life. One was a drug dealer 30 years older. When the man told him he planned on dealing the rest of the life, Aponte imagined his future and decided it was not the road he wanted to lead.
He said soon after, a childhood friend who was in real estate encouraged him to take classes to get his license, prompting him with a similar question, “What are you doing with yourself?”
“I didn’t even have my high school diploma,” Aponte said. “I went out and studied and got my GED. When I took my real estate classes and passed and saw that success, I never looked back. I saw how proud my mom and my dad were making this move and it gave me inspiration.”
Now Aponte said he is looking for opportunities to give back to the community he grew up in and be a positive influence.
“I have a nonprofit where we teach kids about golf and expose them to a different avenue in life than what they are traditionally used to,” Aponte said. “We’re also going to be doing some home developments in Atlantic City to empower more home ownership with some more promotion programs.”
Aponte said he now hopes to be an example for everyone who had a dream and those who are looking to reclaim dreams long forgotten.
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