Tavern on the Green is running out of green before it even re-opens, The Post has learned.
The cash crunch threatens the expected fall re-launch of the Central Park restaurant, sources said.
Philadelphia-based restaurateurs Jim Caiola and David Salama need more dough to cover operating costs at the landmark eatery when it re-opens later this year after their financial backer tightened the purse strings.
“Their backer is not coming up with as much [cash] as they expected, so they are looking for extra funds,” confirmed Steven Hall, a rep for Caiola’s and Salama’s Emerald Green Group.
A hospitality industry insider with access to big bucks confirmed he was approached by Emerald Green to help find an alternative cash supply.
Emerald Green’s backer is Capital Spring, several sources said, which provides debt, equity and “creative capital” for restaurants and franchises, according to its Web site.
Emerald Green aims to open Tavern’s doors to the public in November or December. The city is spending $10 million to restore the buildings to their original 19th century state with new landscaping and an outdoor terrace, while Emerald Green is paying for up to $10 million of interior work.
Under a 20-year license agreement with the Parks Department, Emerald Green will pay the city the greater of $1 million or 6 percent of revenue the first year, rising to $1 million or 15 percent annually in later years.
The city still plans to turn the keys over to Emerald Green in July, and sources emphasized the cash shortfall has not interfered with the company’s ongoing construction and cooperation with city agencies.
But the problem could hit home when the Philly boys have to start paying for food, labor and utilities, which can be tens of millions of dollars annually.
Although smaller than the old Tavern, the new eatery will still have 600 seats indoors and out.
The new Tavern is expected to have about 120 employees compared with 400 in the past. Although Emerald Green has a peace pact with Local 6 of the New York Hotel Trades Council, which previously represented Tavern employees, a new contract still must be nailed down.
Representatives for Capital Spring at 950 Third Ave. didn’t return calls.
Reached at her Brooklyn home, Katy Sparks, the 3-star chef who will run Tavern on the Green’s kitchen, said she “knew nothing” about any financing issue, adding that she had been at the Tavern site just last week.
Through their rep, Caiola and Salama declined to comment.
Asked to comment on the financing glitch, Parks Dept. spokesman Arthur Pincus said only, “The city’s work on Tavern on the Green is continuing as is the concessionaire’s.”
The looming cash crunch is only the latest embarrassment for the Bloomberg administration at the site.
Tavern, once the nation’s highest-grossing restaurant, has been dark for three years since the city refused to renew Jennifer LeRoy’s license. An attempt by Boathouse Café owner Dean Poll to re-open it crashed and burned over union issues.
Last summer, the city surprised the restaurant world by choosing little-known Emerald Green, which runs a small Philadelphia creperie, to bring Tavern on the Green back to life.
In addition to questions raised about Emerald Green’s limited track record, Post City Hall Bureau Chief David Seifman revealed that Salama is the brother-in-law of former Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey, a close pal of Mayor Bloomberg and a top executive at Bloomberg LP.
The city denied favoritism played any role in choosing Emerald Green. Comptroller John Liu, after saying his office would “investigate” the selection, signed off the license agreement last fall.