By Adam Nichols
DNAinfo News Editor
CENTRAL PARK — The city knocked back an $86 million bid to keep Tavern on the Green open because of a long-standing grudge with the restaurant operator's family, the New York Post reported.
Jennifer LeRoy's proposal was $30 million above that of sucessful bidder Dean Poll, whose plan to open an eatery in the famed venue has since failed.
LeRoy's offer would have put extra money in the cash-strapped city's coffers and saved the restaurant from standing empty, which it now is.
The city plans to temporarily use the iconic building — which was once the second highest grossing restaurant in the country — as an information center and hot dog stand after Poll failed to reach a deal with 400 union workers.
LeRoy said was "blindsided" by the revelation that she was beaten by a much smaller bid.
"It just doesn't add up or make sense," she told the Post.
"If I had done something wrong, I would understand losing Tavern. But I thought we had a good relationship with the city.
"We loved it like it was our own, and put millions into it.
"We expected a fair chance to stay, and now it seems like it wasn't even there."
The amount of the bids for the 20 year lease on the restaurant were discovered by the Post after making a request for financial documents under the Freedom of Information Law.
LeRoy, whose family has run Tavern since 1974, bid $86 million. Poll, who runs the nearby Boathouse Cafe, offered only $57.3 million.
Insiders told the paper the city seemed bent on evicting LeRoy because of concerns about the heiress' business skills, her company's failing finances — and because of a grudge against her father, Warner LeRoy.
He had a rocky relationship with the city, including skirting the Landmarks Preservation Commission to build the huge Crystal Room extension.
His daughter's company filed for bankruptcy last year.
The city said the fee offered was only one factor considered, the Post reported.
Poll's bid was "dramatically more detailed and achievable," a Parks Department spokesman told the newspaper.
The city said it aims to invite new bids in the fall, and LeRoy aims to try again.
"Would we like to operate Tavern again?" she asked.
"Absolutely."
