BACKSTORY 'Tavern on the Green' is a storied restaurant in NY's Central Park since 1934, a destination eatery frequented by celebs.
Then it fell on hard times. In January 2011, then-real estate developer Donald Trump said he obtained an agreement from the union employees and that he would invest $20 million in the restaurant, including rebuilding the Crystal Room, if he were granted a 20-year lease. He said he would keep the Tavern on the Green name. "I don't think every place needs to be called Trump," he joked.
Then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Central Park Conservancy which manages the property did not respond to Trump's proposal.
Instead the lucrative deal went to a man married to the sister of one of Bloomberg's business employees.