Plans to move the old Cheyenne Diner from its current location near Penn Station to a new home in Red Hook have fallen through, as many feared last week. Michael O’Connell, son of Red Hook developer Greg O'Connell, who bought the old prefab gem after it closed last April to make way for a condo, says it's too big to transport over the East River bridges. O'Connell considered moving it by barge, but that "proved 3 times as costly as traditional figures a year ago," according to a press release from Michael Perlman, a New Yorker who's become The Fixer when it comes to relocating doomed diners.
Perlman believes the best route towards the diner’s future salvation is the George Washington Bridge, and is hoping some Garden State entrepreneur will step up and buy the Cheyenne, which he says is "the LAST streamlined railway car-inspired diner" in Mid-Manhattan. Perlman adds: "While the Cheyenne can potentially land a good home out of state, many patrons are praying that a NY-based buyer will contact the Committee at [email protected], so it can ideally remain closer to its roots than the Moondance Diner in WY."
George Papas, the owner of the property—who may be the last developer in New York who thinks building a nine-story condo is a good idea right now—says that if the thing isn't off his land by the end of the month he's calling in the wrecking ball. But wait! Couldn't they get it to Red Hook via Jersey by taking the Goethals Bridge to Staten Island, then the Verrazano to Brooklyn? Ah, but that Goethals toll costs a fortune.
Photo courtesy Goggla.
