Donald Trump wants to glam up city landmark Tavern on the Green, but city officials aren’t sure they want his money.
The billionaire promised Wednesday to rescue Tavern on the Green, announcing an agreement with the Tavern’s former workers to bring back the famous Central Park restaurant, which declared bankruptcy and closed last year.
Trump promised to plunge $20 million of his own cash to rebuild it, pledging in his usual boisterous way that it would be the “highest-grossing restaurant on the planet.”
But Trump still needs city approval — including getting the New York City Parks Department to sign on. A Parks spokesman referred questions to the mayor’s office.
At a news conference yesterday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg wasn’t convinced.
“There’s a lot of people who would presumably like to run Tavern on the Green,” Bloomberg said, pointing out that its renovated state — it’s now a visitors’ center and food cart venue — is no longer a massive restaurant space.
Bloomberg wants more time to see how popular the new visitors’ center is, saying he’d need to talk to people in the neighborhood, park visitors and the Central Park Conservancy before making any decisions.
When the Tavern was built, he said, no restaurants were in the area and people were scared to use the park. One possibility he suggested was a minimized restaurant. “We live in a very different world today,” he said.
