Negotiations have started up again between the Hotel and Motel Trades Council and Dean Poll, the newly-selected operator for Tavern on the Green, the city-owned landmark eatery, according to the New York Times. Negotiations had reached an impasse earlier this month, reportedly over Poll’s initial worker proposal, which the union found inadequate. [more]

Talks over the future of Central Park’s famed Tavern on the Green restaurant are deadlocked after a secret meeting at Gracie Mansion last week took a bitter turn, the Post’s Steve Cuozzo reported. Present at the meeting were new license holder Dean Poll — who was, according to a source, “intransigent” — and Local 6 union chief Peter Ward, who the source called “belligerent.” [more]

Once one of Manhattan’s most storied institutions, the Plaza Hotel today seems like a cautionary tale in luxury real estate, the New York Times reported. The last nearly-dozen condo sellers at the Plaza sold their units at a significant loss, while its luxurious retail space has been forsaken by shoppers. Clark Wolf, an independent restaurant consultant, told the Times that the Plaza’s downfall represents a cultural shift in the city, one that is seeing legendary high-end institutions falling by the wayside. “It’s gone from being a landmark to being just a building,” Wolf said. “In an era without Tavern on the Green or a Café des Artistes, we need something. New York City is screaming for a landmark.”

Tavern on the Green, the warmly ostentatious, perennial tourist favorite nestled in Central Park on the corner of West 66th Street and Central Park West, will host its last group of diners tomorrow before changing hands — and, possibly, names — with new management at the helm. The city awarded management of the 75-year-old Manhattan mainstay to Dean Poll, the manager of the Central Park Boathouse, on Aug. 28, ending the LeRoy family’s 35-year control of the New York City institution. Not long after losing the bid to renew her contract at the restaurant, Jennifer LeRoy, the current license holder and daughter of the late restaurateur Warner LeRoy, announced that the restaurant was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a move that riled the restaurant’s more than 450 creditors. Earlier this month, The Real Deal’s Amy Tennery attended the Association of Real Estate Women’s holiday luncheon at the soon-to-be-shuttered institution and documented Tavern on the Green’s last holiday season (see slide show above). TRD [more]

Tavern on the Green, which is slated to close Dec. 31, and Jennifer LeRoy

Eight years after taking the reins at Tavern on the Green, Jennifer LeRoy is bidding farewell to the famed restaurant once operated by her father. The heiress to a once-burgeoning restaurant empire, LeRoy was put in control by her father when she was just 22. Now, after losing a bid to renew her family’s lease at the landmark Central Park restaurant, a Crain’s profile describes LeRoy as angry over “the city’s rejection of her family.” Currently locked in a battle over the rights to the name “Tavern on the Green,” those close to LeRoy say she’s taking the latest legal turmoil — and closure of the restaurant — hard. “Her mind frame is fragile,” Michael Desiderio, COO of the restaurant, said. “Tavern’s closing is heartbreaking for the LeRoy family.”

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While the city has long been focusing on who will operate the famed Tavern on the Green — which could become “Tavern in the Park” — the restaurant’s 452 creditors have been focusing on something else: the $8 million they’re owed. The creditors, which include a labor union and individual investors, say that the city has left them out of the Tavern morass. “New York City has completely disregarded the interests of Tavern’s creditors,” Norman Kinel, the creditors’ committee lawyer said. Kinel contended that the city has not only generated bad publicity for the restaurant, which could hurt business he said, but also botched the restaurant’s renaming process. “The city is trying to steal the Tavern name for the benefit of [the new owner, Dean Poll] as a result of its own mishandling of the matter,” Kinel said. Because of the city’s management of the tavern conflict, he added, “the public erroneously seems to be under the impression that Tavern has shut down.”

After the city publicly stated last February that it did not own the name rights to financially troubled New York City mainstay Tavern on the Green, officials asserted the city’s right to the name last Friday. The city will reportedly be taking legal action to claim its right to the landmark restaurant in Central Park, which has been recently appraised at $19 million. The restaurant, which filed for bankruptcy Sept. 9, was trademarked in 1973 by the late Walter LeRoy, whose family has claimed that they have ownership of the name. But when the restaurant filed for bankruptcy last month, restaurateur Dean Poll was awarded the license and said he supports the city’s effort to claim the trademarked name.

Despite consistently ranking as one of the highest-grossing restaurants, Tavern on the Green, the iconic Midtown restaurant, has filed for Chapter 11. Jennifer LeRoy, the restaurant’s current license holder, said the poor economic climate and the city’s decision to not renew her license motivated the decision. Tavern on the Green is set to receive a new operator, Dean Poll, who manages the Central Park Boathouse — another institution fraught with financial misfortune — Dec. 31.

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe oversees nearly 30,000 acres of prime
real estate in the city and is getting ready to announce who his agency
has picked as the new operator of Central Park’s Tavern on the Green.
On this week’s Webcast, The Real Deal’s Jen Benepe interviews
the commissioner — her brother — in a rare, on-air sibling sit-down.
In addition to Tavern on the Green, the two talked about the coming
restaurant at Union Square, where their father, Barry, founded the
farmer’s market. They also talked about which developers are
contributing money to parks and why, even with the recent budget cuts,
the city’s green spaces won’t look like they did in the 1970s. To watch the full Webcast, click on the video.  Comments

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