Dean Poll Buys Gallagher's - NYTimes.com As expected, Gallagher's, the 85-year-old near-Broadway steakhouse that was a shrine to Runyonesque Manhattan, has been purchased by Dean J. Poll, who has run the Central Park Boathouse for more than 12 years. The restaurant has been open continuously since it announced that it was for sale in October. The deal, first reported by The New York Post, has been ratified by Local 100, the restaurant union that represents its 92 employees, Mr. Poll said in an interview. "Gallagher's is like the Four Seasons or P.J. Clarke's, it's a historic part of New York," he said, adding that it will continue to be called Gallagher's. He negotiated a new 20-year lease at the building at 228 West 52d Street with Marlene Brody, its half-owner, who took control of the restaurant after the 2001 death of her father, Jerome Brody, the longtime Gallagher's owner. Mr. Poll tried to take over Tavern on the Green but the deal fell through in 2010 because he could not come to an agreement with the New York Hotel Trades Council, its union. He said he would not try to turn Gallagher's into a Tavern on the Green. "Gallagher's isn't Tavern - Gallagher's is Gallagher's," he said. He added that he will "preserve its character, but revamp the menu and atmosphere a bit to keep it popular for the next 85 years." He said he negotiated to buy the restaurant for more than a year, but declined to reveal the terms of the deal.