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BROOKLYN, N.Y.--Once a special-occasion restaurant ranked among New York's top fine-dining palaces, Gage and Tollner--one of the country's oldest restaurants and a designated historic landmark--has reopened one year after foreclosure with a new owner, a spruced-up look and an accomplished new chef.
Gage and Tollner's reopening was largely the unique combination of business and civic interests who did not want to see the downtown Brooklyn landmark vanish.
Flagging for some time and hurt economically by the corporate and retail exodus from downtown Brooklyn, Gage and Tollner closed about a year ago when Independence Savings Bank foreclosed on former owner Peter Aschkenasy. But with the development of new business in the area, led by Metro Tech--a giant technology and academic center--the area's future is looking up.
The bank tapped veteran restaurateur Joseph Chirico, owner of Marco Polo Ristorante and Joe's, both in Brooklyn, to take over the site. He bought the building's 30-year mortgage at a discount and spent more than $500,000 and about six months renovating the space.
But Chirico said he was grateful that a local utility company, Brooklyn Union Gas, restored gas lines to the 117-year-old restaurant's famed gaslights at no charge.
"They are just down the street from here, and they wanted to see this place come back," Chirico said. "They really did some great work."
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