The owner of a Hell’s Kitchen dueling piano bar has gained the support of the community board to transform his business into a legal cannabis dispensary — but state rules limiting the number of marijuana shops in an area could hit a sour note.
Steven Padernacht plans to transform Bar Nine, the piano bar he owns, into a licensed retail cannabis dispensary along with his lifelong friend Robert Lim. Padernacht has run Bar Nine since 2014 and is ready for a change; business has been down since the COVID-19 pandemic, and he’s hoping the burgeoning cannabis industry will prove more lucrative. “The foot traffic, specifically on [9th] Avenue, has changed dramatically,” he said. “I think people have realized that they don’t have to go outside and they can have a good time at home.”
Padernacht grew up in the Bronx with Lim, who was incarcerated for 15 years on marijuana-related charges. Lim is a Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) license holder, a licensing program run by the New York Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) to provide opportunities for “justice-involved individuals… impacted by the disproportionate enforcement of cannabis prohibition.”
“I didn’t know I could do half my life in jail for marijuana,” Lim told W42ST. “It’s awesome that I get the opportunity to bring positive energy and stuff from something that impacted my life in a negative way. I get to change it and flip it around and grow from it.”
Lim was originally given a CAURD license in the Bronx, but he said he has since applied for it to be moved to Manhattan, drawn by the island’s “vibe” and “energy.”
The friends’ plans are tempered, however, by an OCM rule requiring that licensed cannabis dispensaries be located at least 1,000 feet apart from one another in municipalities with over 20,000 residents. Another dispensary, Cannadreams, is set to open two blocks north in the former location of Bar Veloce at W56th Street and 9th Avenue. Bar Nine, located mid-block between W53rd and W54th Streets, is too close to the Cannadreams location, which is considered to be proximity protected.
Padernacht and Lim are currently appealing the OCM’s proximity rule. “We’re kind of in a holding pattern right now,” Padernacht said. Bar Nine’s lease is up for renewal in November, and he estimated he has until July to decide whether to continue business as usual.
“My initial thoughts are I’ll probably try to renew for maybe a year or so and try to wait,” Padernacht said. “Only because of my close ties to the community board and the block association. I like this community and I want to continue to do business there.”
Padernacht and Lim presented to Manhattan Community Board 4’s Cannabis Task Force at its March 21 meeting and ultimately gained the members’ support, with the request that the dispensary close at around 10 pm on weekdays and 11 pm on the weekends.
Andrew Goldstein, a member of the Hell’s Kitchen 49-54 Block Alliance, told the board he supported the change. “I think having a more regulated businesses there would actually be more beneficial to the residents,” he said, compared to an establishment serving alcohol.
If he and Padernacht succeed in opening, Lim said their business would be a retail dispensary, as opposed to a space for cannabis consumption.
“Our business model is they’ll come in, we’re going to have a waiting room set up for people so there’s not a lot of traffic overflowing onto the street,” Lim said. “From there, we have to approve that they are of age to walk in. There will be different stations, and they’ll buy their cannabis and then they’ll go home and consume it legally.”
Running a dispensary should come with less liability than a bar where people may be intoxicated, Padernacht said. While it’s possible people could consume marijuana outside of the shop, “we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that … there’s not anybody hanging out in front of our business or any of our neighbors consuming any of the cannabis that they buy,” he said.
Cannadreams, the dispensary slated to open at W56th Street, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the meantime, state regulations don’t appear to be getting in the way of the approximately 50 unlicensed smoke shops in Hell’s Kitchen, per W42ST’s Fall 2023 storefront survey. Three illicit smoke shops are currently open on the 9th Avenue blocks between the two proposed licensed locations.
Despite the obstacles, Padernacht and Lim remain positive. “I’m keeping my fingers crossed and I’m optimistic,” Padernacht said. “It’s going to come together.”
We need consumption lounges where people can socialize just like bars.
I think his hours are way to late for a dispensary
Agree cannabis lounges should begin to be considered with appropriate hours.
Not a bad idea to pilot.
When are we going to stop this hideous invasion of dispensaries? I don’t understand how they are paying rent for primo real estate spaces and making any money at all with the overwhelming inundation. It’s ruining our neighborhood. Admittedly, Bar Nine should have let go a long time ago. If the owners are under the delusion that they will make more money off of it as dispensary than a bar/ restaurant, the competition will likely destroy them. Theres no competitive pricing, happy hour, specials or entertainment. Thanks guys for giving into the machine and disregarding reality. Your argument is delusional.
The fact that so many of the dispensaries exist & seem to stay in business means that we do not know if a single new one will not be able to do the same. Also if they crack down on/close the illegal ones-the vast majority-they will almost certainly thrive.
Bar Nine has specials & tons of entertainment, including dueling pianos…Maybe you meant to communicate the the smoke shops do not have these things. I do not know if the prices are competitive, you would have to know what is usually charged. But they do run specials sometimes; I have asked at a few shops sometimes for someone beloved who benefits greatly re: appetite & anxiety after battling cancer for years.
Its sad that someone who wants to open a legit dispensary faces challenges, while illegal shops are completely tolerated. Rather than stop him from opening, close down all the illegal shops! Its still so baffling why law enforcement isn’t doing their job on this front!
Just curious, what makes the existing smoke shops “illicit” versus this one?
Illicit shops aren’t taxing cannabis purchases so no money is going to the state, illicit shops do not test their products and do not need to go through the process of testing through the state, illicit shops are quite literally taking money out of the state’s pockets. This is why it’s shocking no state agency is working to close the illicit shops.
Illicit shops are violating many terms of their licenses or are not even licensed at all.
Honestly. If this were Prohibition and miraculously a “legal “speak easy opened with a marginally higher standard of gin, and charged 5cents. I would still go get my Neighbors bathtub gin for 2cents. This is weed shit is so foolish. Do we really need to turn Hells Kitchen into RedLight Amsterdam? Even they are turning down the red lights on this. The only difference here is you buy the hookers on line rather than trying your luck at the endless trashy gay bars.
“an OCM rule requiring that licensed cannabis dispensaries be located at least 1,000 feet apart from one another” – Is this a joke?
A dispensary is a road to bankruptcy at this point. The market is saturated beyond belief. You dont purchase weed like booze. One purchase can last months and months. Maybe a year if you dont smoke all the time.
With a space like he has this is what he came up with. The options of turning that space in a viable space that would be more of interest to the tourist of midtown would have been better. The options are endless but to choose ANOTHER pot store is in a word, stupid.
I like Bar Nine and will be sad to see it go. I’m not sure another dispensary — even a licensed shop — will be as lucrative as the owners are hoping in a market this oversaturated. Especially in a space that large. But I wish them the best.