Court Battle: Bryant Park Grill Refuses to Vacate as Lease Expires

Bryant Park Grill is staying put, according to its owner, even though the lease for the space expired on April 30. A new lease was awarded to the restaurant chain controlled by celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

Michael Weinstein and his company, Ark Restaurants—which has run the grill since 1995—are in the midst of suing the Bryant Park Corporation for evicting him as a tenant, arguing that a bidding process that favored Jean-Georges for the space was “defective” and “violated applicable law.” Although the lease expired on April 30, Weinstein says that he will continue running the Grill while litigation remains ongoing. Indeed, operations were continuing on May 2 when Straus News stopped by for a visit.

A New York state judge has already denied Ark’s plea to impose a temporary injunction blocking the pending eviction by Bryant Park Corporation. Weinstein and Ark are appealing that ruling while continue to operate.

Bryant Park Corp. had not returned an email seeking comment by press time.

In the past, Bryant Park CEO Daniel Biederman has justified the decision to bounce the longtime lessee by citing an estimate that Jean-Georges would generate more rental income for the public-private Midtown park than the Grill has traditionally rung up.

Weinstein’s attorneys dispute that, arguing that Ark’s “bid is speculative and offers at least $1 million in lower guaranteed annual rent than Plaintiffs’ bids. The Plaintiff has never missed a rent payment in 30 years while turning it into a popular mid-town destination. And the corporation would suffer a huge loss of income because a changeover in operators would require “renovations that would shutter the restaurant for a year or more.”

Ark is also arguing that the Bryant Park Corp. (BPC) violated their lease terms in the process of giving Seaport, the Jean-Georges chain’s prominent outpost, the winning bid, citing a clause that stipulates a “right to first lease.” They say that the BPC “failed to provide a “Landlord’s Notice,” and didn’t provide notice of proposed terms of the successor lease.

“The question of who should operate the Park restaurant is far from a private ‘landlord-tenant’ dispute, as Biederman characterized it,” the suit reads. “It is a matter of public concern about an important public amenity.”

The decision to grant Jean-Georges the lease was announced by Biederman in late January, when he appeared before Community Board 5. “We think they present the best combination of operating record, financial strength, creative talent in the food and design field, and the like,” he told the board. Biederman had already essentially dropped strong hints at what his decision would be at another CB5 meeting last December, where he revealed that Bryant Park Grill had provided $28 million worth of rent in its 30 years of operation. Jean-Georges, he said, would be estimated to provide $40 million over a comparable timeframe.

Weinstein, as well as many of his employees, attended that December meeting as well. They pointed out that around 250 employees will be out of a job if and when Bryant Park Grill does close its doors, with Jean-Georges seemingly not promising to rehire them; instead, the Jean-Georges group suggested that they can merely re-apply. Ark’s lawsuit mentions these employees, some of whom are hired based on “seasonal needs” and have “been on board for a decade or more”; these include “chefs, servers, bar attendants, dishwashers, porters, hosts and food preparers.”

Bryant Park Corporation did not return comment as of press time.