QUICK TAKES - Aug. 29, 2009

Tavern on the Green, a 75-year-old institution in New York’s Central Park that was the second-highest-grossing restaurant in the United States last year, will be taken over by Dean Poll, who runs another eatery in New York’s most famous park.

Poll, who operates Loeb Central Park Boathouse, was awarded a 20-year lease for Tavern on the Green by New York’s Parks & Recreation Department, which issues the license for the restaurant because it’s on city property.

The city, which announced the decision Friday in a press release, was seeking a more lucrative deal that would give it as much as 20% of the restaurant’s revenue. Under the current contract with the family of the late Warner LeRoy, New York received 3.5% of Tavern’s revenue last year.

Warner LeRoy, who died in 2001, was the son of famed Hollywood producer and director Mervyn LeRoy. Warner LeRoy’s daughter, Jennifer, has run the restaurant since his death.