Business & Tech
City Rejected Billionaire Bid To 'Save' Central Park Boathouse: Report
A taxi medallion magnate's "white knight" offer to take over the Central Park Boathouse didn't please the city, according to the NY Post.
UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The city reportedly rejected a “white knight” proposal by a billionaire investor to take over the floundering Loeb Boathouse in Central Park, leaving the restaurant’s future up in the air.
Andrew Murstein had offered to pay $6 million to renovate the famed facility and keep current operator Dean Poll in place, according to the New York Post.
The city’s Office of Management and budget turned down the offer for not covering enough costs, according to the Post.
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The agency did not return Patch’s request for comment; nor did the Parks Department, which is handling the search for a new operator.
Murstein's father, Alvin, founded Medallion Funding Corp.: a lender of taxi medallions. A 2019 New York Times investigation into the company's lending practices found that it had "devastated a generation of taxi drivers" through "reckless" loans.
Find out what's happening in Upper East Sidefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Patch first reported in July that the Boathouse restaurant would permanently close in its current form, as Poll cited “rising labor and costs of goods.”
"I’ve been there for 21 years,” Poll told Patch. “The economics just don’t work anymore.”
The city quickly said it would search for a new operator, and took a major step toward that goal the following month, posting a public notice asking interested operators to come forward by Aug. 19.
The new operator’s lease would begin in the spring or summer of 2023 and last no more than 10 years. The city said it wanted to move quickly to award the 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.
The lease also covers the popular rowboat rental kiosk just outside the Boathouse building.
While Poll initially said he was closing the Boathouse by Oct. 16, the Parks Department later said it was negotiating to let catered events continue until around Dec. 31 of this year.
And while Poll said the closure would require laying off all 163 employees, the union representing those workers said it would work to secure them jobs in the Boathouse’s successor business.
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