Plans to open the Bikini themed bar on Steinway (between 19th and 20th avenues) were in full swing in 2012, however the Queens Community Board 1 opposed the venue opening, their reasons were concerns that the Bikini Bar would eventually turn into a strip club. However that decision was not the same this Tuesday when the board voted in favor of a cabaret license, reported DNAinfo. 

The license is required so that a venue can have patrons dance inside, and it was given to them on an agreement that the owners would not turn it into a topless bar. 

Racks' attorney Mark Weinstein commented that the bar is meant to be a sports lounge/ restaurant which turns into a nightclub later on, and that the owners would have to be extremely imaginative to make money within the constraints given to them by the Board. 

However, even with the cabaret license, the liquor license is still pending approval, according to DNAinfo, with their previous attempt rejected in 2013. 

According to Weinstein, the bar will open as soon as the liquor license is approved.