NEW YORK — Central Park’s picturesque Loeb Boathouse, which has been featured in “Sex and the City” and movie thriller “The Manchurian Candidate,” is closing.
Dean J. Poll, owner of the restaurant and event space, filed paperwork with the city this month announcing his intention to shut down the business.
“Due to rising labor and costs of goods, the business will be permanently closing effective 10/16/2022 affecting a total of 163 employees,” Poll wrote in a notice filed with the state’s Department of Labor.
The site is a premier venue for weddings and lakeside dining in the heart of Manhattan.
The restaurant temporarily shut down in October 2020 during the worst days of the pandemic. It reopened five months later with a celebratory Instagram post.
“It is with a full heart and great joy that we announce the reopening of the Boathouse!” the restaurant announced. “We missed you as much as you missed us!”
The high-end dinner menu includes miso glazed king oyster mushrooms at $36, pan seared halibut at $42 and cast-iron chicken with a truffle potato puree at $38.
The restaurant is tucked away by the Central Park Lake’s eastern shore and not accessible by car.
Poll, who has operated the Boathouse since 2000, is negotiating with the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation to try to find a new owner.
“It is our intention to engage a new operator as soon as possible. The Boat House is not permanently closing,” said Crystal Howard, a parks department spokeswoman. “We are working in good faith with the current operator in an effort to accommodate those individuals who have an event already scheduled at the Boathouse.”
The union representing the laid off workers is also trying to make sure they have a first crack at jobs under the new owner. The restaurant is popular with park goers and tourists.
The Boathouse is also a draw for nature enthusiasts and bird watchers.
Poll is also the founder of the Poll Group, which owns Gallagher’s Steakhouse. He could not be reached for comment.
The Loeb Boathouse was named after investment banker and philanthropist Carl M. Loeb, who donated around $300,000 in 1954 to help rebuild the structure.
In 1872, Central Park landscape architect Calvert Vaux designed the two-story Victorian, wooden boathouse that was 12 feet wide and 20 feet long. In 1924, Vaux’s boathouse was replaced by a rustic, wooden structure that lasted another 30 years.
Other movies filmed at the Boathouse include “When Harry Met Sally” and “27 Dresses.”
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