Boathouse Reborn: City Seeks New Operator For Central Park Venue

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The city is urgently seeking a new operator for Central Park's Loeb Boathouse restaurant after its current owner abandons the venue later this year, the Parks Department announced Friday.

As Patch reported last month, longtime owner Dean Poll informed the city that he was giving up the Boathouse and laying off its 163 employees due to rising costs of labor and goods.

At the time, the city said that it would look for a new operator, and it made good on that promise this week, posting a public notice asking interested operators to come forward. The new lease would begin in the spring or summer of 2023 and last no more than 10 years, the city said.

Setting an Aug. 19 deadline, the city says it wants to move quickly to award the new lease, given the location's popularity and its potential to generate high revenue. In 2021, the Boathouse reported $13 million in gross receipts, according to the city's notice.

While Poll initially said he was closing the Boathouse by Oct. 16, the Parks Department said it is now negotiating to let catered events continue until around Dec. 31 of this year.

"Patrons to the Loeb Boathouse and visitors to Central Park have enjoyed this location for years and Parks would like to continue to provide these welcome amenities," the agency said in a news release.

A city landmark, the Boathouse was built in 1952 on the Eastern shore of the park's 72nd Street Lake. The restaurant's main dining room famously faces the lake, with "accordion style glass windows" that fold back to create an open-air venue during the summer, the city's notice said.

Other elements include an indoor bar with a large stone fireplace, a snack bar, a "Lake Room" used for special events, restrooms both for customers and the public, and an enclosed courtyard.

The lease also covers the popular rowboat rental kiosk just outside the Boathouse building.

The city said it will study applicants' proposals based on plans for capital investment, improvement and designs, operating experience and financial capabilities, among other factors.

Poll, the current owner, also owns Gallagher's Steakhouse in Midtown. He told Patch last month that he had known since before the pandemic that rising costs of labor, insurance and goods would jeopardize the business's long-term future.

"COVID has nothing to do with anything. The volume was there," he said. "But the expenses just eat away at it."

Under his ownership, the Boathouse had shut down in October 2020 and then reopened the following March, only to close again now.

To express interest or get more information, concessionaires can contact Andrew Copppola, Parks's senior project manager for the revenue division, at 212-360-3454 or at andrew.coppola@parks.nyc.gov by Aug. 19.

Related coverage:

• Central Park Boathouse To Close Permanently After Brief Reopening
  
• Central Park Boathouse Closes, Laying Off 163 Workers
• Central Park Boathouse Announces Reopening: What To Know