City Searches Again For New Leaf Replacement In Fort Tryon Park

INWOOD, NY — The city is searching for a new restauranteur to take over the popular New Leaf concession in Fort Tryon Park, which officially closed when its contract expired in January.

The city's Parks Department said this week that they will put out a new request for proposals for the Margaret Corbin Drive space in the spring after their efforts to preemptively find someone to take over the cafe were unsuccessful.

"We look forward to identifying a new operator for this historic facility and bringing food service back to Fort Tryon Park," a spokesperson for the department told Patch.

This is the second time officials have searched for someone to run New Leaf Cafe, also called the New Leaf Restaurant and Bar, since its longtime operator the New York Restoration Project abruptly closed the concession in 2014.

The most recent contract was with coffee shop operator Coffeed, who took over from the New York Restoration Project in 2015.

The Parks Department had put out a request in 2018 with the hopes that they would secure someone new before that contract expired on Jan. 22 and told Community Board 12 members in December that there was a successful bidder to that request.

But, by January, negotiations had fallen through, board members said.

"They do understand that that's a really important concession we look forward to patronizing and as soon as they have a more substantive update they will let us know," Parks and Cultural Affairs Committee Chair Elizabeth Lorris Ritter told the board in January.

The new request for proposals asks for someone that can renovate, operate and maintain the restaurant space, which is a popular destination for weddings and other events.

The contract will be for no more than a 20-year term at the concession space.

Anyone with questions or comments about the request for proposals should get in touch with Andrew Coppola, by phone at (212) 360-3454 or via email at andrew.coppola@parks.nyc.gov, the department said.@p###a>