Donald Trump and Tavern on the Green
Shuttered Central Park landmark Tavern on the Green may reopen under the direction of New York real estate mogul Donald Trump, who wants to turn it into “the highest-grossing restaurant on the planet,” Trump said yesterday. According to the New York Times, Trump has reached an agreement with Peter Ward, head of the union that represented the workers there, to revive the restaurant, which closed at the end of 2009 after the LeRoy family that operated it declared bankruptcy.
The city had granted Central Park Boathouse operator Dean Poll the operating license, but Poll was never able to come to terms with the union. According to Trump, the union would get a five-year contract and between 400 and 500 jobs under their agreement and he would invest $20 million of his own money to renovate the property in time to reopen it in 2012.
The never-modest Trump added: “Everyone wants this to happen, and nobody else but me can do it, because I’m the only one who has the money.”
Of course, the city would still need to get on board by granting him the operating license, and a spokesperson for Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday that the city is “not ready to announce any future plans” for the restaurant.
If that happens, Trump promised that the “Tavern on the Green” name would stick. “I don’t think every place needs to be called Trump,” he told the Post.