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New Tavern On The Green Will Get New Name And Look
By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 15, 2009
Modified Apr 15, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 15, 2009
Modified Apr 15, 2009
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Gaudy Central Park restaurant Tavern on the Green may be an overpriced tourist trap, but it's still the #2 top earning restaurant in America, grossing $34,221,691 last year alone. But plenty of restaurateurs think they can do better, and when the LeRoy family's 25 year operating license expires December 31st, the former sheepfold may fall under new ownership. The city, which owns the property, also thinks it can do better; as it stands now, the LeRoys are only required to pay 3.5% of their gross receipts to the city, while licensees at other Parks Department properties like the Central Park Boathouse pay up to 16.5%. City Room tagged along during a recent tour of Tavern for potential bidders, and learned that should the LeRoys lose the bidding war, they'll be stripping the place of every last bit of its "fantasyland décor." They'll even be keeping the rights to the restaurant's name, which they've had appraised at a value of $19 million. Given Tavern's notoriously mediocre reputation, you'd think the new owners would be paying the LeRoys to take the name with them on their way out.
Tagged
bidding
central park
lease
tavern
tavern on the green
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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