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.
Bar Nine at 807 9th Avenue (bw W53/54) is hoping to pivot from dueling piano bar to legal cannabis dispensary. Photo: Phil O’Brien
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