New York Restauranteurs Take Over Harbor Park Lease Pending Common Council Approval

On the day before a two-year dispute went to trial Harbor Park leaseholder Frank Marratta announced that New York restaurant operators Dan Cronin and John Krevey have proposed buying out the 22 year lease Marratta holds with the city.

The new lease holders propose to open the River Grill under a partnership called The Mattabassett Canoe club, take immediate control of the building and restaurant, and put an immediate end to the band shell and outdoor musical performances, a source of complaint from neighbors in Portland across the river.

The partners plan to make some minor renovations to the building in the short term and a new restaurant is scheduled to open next year after extensive renovations.

The partners operate two waterside restaurants in New York currently, Pier i Cafe in Riverside Park and Pier 66 Maritime in Hudson River Park, and have just been granted a lease for a third site under the Brooklyn Bridge.

"There aren't many cities equal to Middletown with its natural resources on the river, and it's many restaurants," Cronin said.

"The nature of the operators is very much in keeping with what the city contemplated when Frank Marratta first opened Harbor Park," Mayor Sebastian Giuliano said.  He noted that the new operators were committed to attracting a wide variety of patrons to their restaurant.

According to City Planning Director Bill Warner, the partnership personally financed the purchase of the lease from Marratta, and they will not be able to assign the lease to other operators as the lease allowed Marratta to do in the past.