Exclusive | Bryant Park Grill saga boils over as owner expected to stay while fighting eviction
The simmering Bryant Park Grill saga boiled over as a court gave the park’s manager the green light to boot the Grill’s current operator, and the company that was slated to take over the iconic space with Jean-Georges Vongerichten bowed out of lease negotiations, Realty Check has learned.A state Supreme Court judge ruled this month that the nonprofit Bryant Park Corporation can evict the restaurant operated by Michael Weinstein’s Ark Restaurants.“We are very happy with the decision,” said Corporation lawyer Gil Feder.But Weinstein told The Post he plans to appeal, which could give him as much as another year at the helm of the popular, indoor-outdoor venue that’s one of the nation’s top-grossing places with $25 million in annual revenue.Bryant Park Corporation president Daniel Biederman declined to renew Ark’s lease when it expired last year, and planned to replace it with superchef Vongerichten and Seaport Entertainment Group, which owns 25% of his eatery empire.But in a second twist, the plan that was widely reported in the spring of 2025 is kaput.“Seaport Entertainment Group is no longer involved in Bryant Park Grill in an operating capacity as originally contemplated.However, we continue to own 25% of Jean-Georges Management,” an SEG spokesperson told The Post on Wednesday.Vongerichten’s CEO Lois Freedman confirmed, “If/when we sign [a lease], we will be the operators, not Seaport Entertainment.”Biederman said of the Grill’s future, “Bryant Park is thrilled to welcome a new modern restaurant concept, to be announced soon, in a space so many New Yorkers and visitors know and love.”Michael McMahon, a retired former real estate asset manager and now a consultant to Biederman, clarified, “We’re negotiating with Jean-George for a management agreement” — unlike the earlier plan for SEG to lease the property.Further confusing things, McMahon said that although SEG “stepped away” from lease talks, it “might be coming back ...