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Restaurateur Dean Poll gets nod
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New York restaurateur Dean Poll’s plans to take over another famous Central Park eatery, the Tavern on the Green, have been realized. Poll, who invested more than $4 million to convert the park’s Loeb Boathouse into a full-service restaurant, has been granted the license to take over the 800-seat Tavern on the Green in Central Park at the start of next year by New York’s Parks & Recreation Department.
“We are pleased to select Dean Poll as the new operator of this world-famous location in Central Park,” said Parks & Recreation commissioner Adrian Benepe. “He has done an outstanding job for eight years at the Loeb Boathouse, and his vision for the restaurant, as outlined in his strong proposal detailing a significant capital investment in the landmark structure, will ensure that both residents and visitors to New York will enjoy fine dining in one of the city’s most historic and bucolic settings for years to come.”
Poll’s plan for the restaurant involve making $25 million in improvements to the historic building, including new HVAC, electrical and plumbing systems, kitchens, and replaced slate roofs. The plan incorporates green building technology, preserves the landmark restaurant’s historic aspects, creates ADA accessible restrooms and a new elevator, and implements new landscape designs that will open up views of the Sheep Meadow.
Poll’s plan also reimagines the current Crystal Room as a conservatory-style dining space which will complement the Victorian architecture of the original Jacob Wrey Mould building. The plan also pays tribute to the 1950s renovation. The Loewy Room, named after the famed designer of that renovation, Raymond Loewy, will feature leather banquettes, wood paneling and other design elements reflective of that period.
A new venue is envisioned for the area near the West Drive, with an outdoor café, bike racks and new public restrooms accessible directly from the exterior of the main building. The renovation plan will be conducted in phases so that the restaurant will remain open.
The renovation will be overseen by Koutsomitis Architects PC, a firm that has worked on such parks projects as the restoration of the Washington Square Arch, the reconstruction of the Chelsea Recreation Center and the renovation of a number of the city’s historic houses.
The Tavern on the Green was previously operated by the family of the late restaurateur Warner LeRoy, who died in 2001. The family had also sought to maintain its control of the license.
The LeRoy family still owns The Tavern on the Green brand. Poll told The New York Times he would “not speculate about what we’re going to do about the name.” A spokesperson for the Leroy family declined to comment when the Times asked about the sale of the name to Poll.
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