Bryant Park Grill Begs Bryant Park Corp. to Keep Its Lease

The owner of Bryant Park Grill, which is set to be replaced by another restaurant when its lease expires next May, openly asked Bryant Park Corp. executive Dan Biederman to consider keeping his venue around at a Dec. 2 Community Board 5 subcommittee meeting.

Bryant Park Corp. believes that a new restaurant will provide higher rent than the total of $28 million that Bryant Park Grill, which has been in operation since 1995, has provided the privately-managed public park’s coffers. The grill paid $3 million in rent last year.

Biederman told CB5’s Parks & Public Space Committee that a new venture could pull in $40 million over the same period. Crain’s New York Business reports that the winning proposal will likely come from haute cuisine staple Jean-Georges Restaurants.

Biederman went out of his way to say that Bryant Park Grill, which is run by Ark Restaurants, has done a “very good job.” He added that he “wouldn’t want to say anything negative about them.” However, he also said that “a lease has a termination, and there’s no pressure as us as a landlord to continue on with the same operator. Change happens all over Manhattan, even if the existing tenant has done a good job.”

He added that “big real estate companies,” ranging from Tishman Speyer to Brookfield, hold “billion-dollar” assets that rely on the park “being great...they’ve made so much money on the park being upgraded that they sell [those] assets.”

Therefore, Biederman said, it’s important to collect more rent–both for the park, and for nearby realtors. “At our [board] meetings, I say that I’m gonna keep improving. I never rest on our laurels. I’m gonna keep operating the park.”

It was during public comment when Michael Weinstein, the CEO of Ark Restaurants, stepped up to question why Bryant Park Grill seems to be on its way out. He was cordial with Dan, who he told everybody was “very generous and hasn’t criticized us.”

Yet Weinstein also disputed the basic premise of giving Bryant Park Grill’s space to another restaurant, claiming that “our proposal offers more rent, and the possibility of more future rent than other proposals...if there was transparency and they were all lined up together.” He also said that a new owner would have less of a steady stream of cash flow.

Weinstein went on to express thinly-veiled consternation that Bryant Park Grill was on track to close in 2025, saying that it “doesn’t make any sense.”

Michael Phillips, a waiter with Bryant Park Grill, also provided extensive commentary. “I’ve stayed with this job because it has a unique family feel. Most of our diverse staff has worked here for decades,” he began. The grill had made contributions to employees, he said, such as ‘helping them pay on weddings, produce plays, and start their own businesses.”

”They’ve fed first responders on 9/11, and every Thanksgiving. They’ve fed the homeless and hired the underprivileged to give them a chance to succeed...they’ve pitched in for funerals for those who couldn’t afford it. My coworkers have gone on to become teachers, podcasters, comedians, and even mayors,” Phillips continued. “I consider this way more than a restaurant, but a cultural anchor of our city....all of these stories are much bigger than rent.”