Bid loser: Ax deal on boathouse

A BIDDER for the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park is suing the city and the Parks Department for a do-over — claiming a well-connected businessman who made a $10,000 political donation connected to Mayor de Blasio walked away with the concession deal.

Former Bryant Park Grill head Robert Tower and Helah Kehati, head of JPO Concepts catering and events company, claim the city gave a 15-year contract to longtime Loeb Boathouse operator Dean Poll — despite his blemished history as an employer.

Poll should have been disqualified for his $10,000 donation to the State Senate Democratic Committee, the suit filed Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court says.

Poll’s donation put him on a state conflicts of interest list because he was also doing business with the city, the suit said. The donation came at the same time the mayor’s Campaign for One New York — currently under multiple probes for pay-to-play allegations — was raising money for upstate races.

The suit says Poll, who has run the Loeb Central Park Boathouse (photo) since 2000, was illegally granted a six-month extension on 15-year-deal this summer.

And he was chosen as the winning bidder for Loeb’s next 15-year contract, the lawsuit said — even though the plaintiffs’ bid granted $19.5 million more a year to the city.

“We had the better contract and the better bid,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Lawrence Goldberg. “We want to cancel the six-month extension given to Poll and we want the 15-year contract we should have won.”

The Parks Department said the upcoming contract had not yet been awarded.

“We evaluate all potential concessionaire proposals on the merits in a fair, transparent, and competitive process. There is zero truth to this allegation and the city looks forward to responding to it in court,” a spokesman said.

Poll, who in 2007 was accused of underreporting more than $2.3 million in revenues to the city, said there was “no validity” to the lawsuit’s claims. In 2011, then-Public Advocate Bill de Blasio called on the Parks Department to vacate Poll’s vendor contract with the city, citing labor, sexual harassment and other workers’ charges against him. his