Cheyenne Diner comes home.

Byline: Catherine Curan

The Cheyenne Diner will soon be crossing the river. Michael O'Connell, the elder son of Greg O'Connell, the Red Hook developer known for bringing in the popular Fairway market, said he is finally moving the Manhattan diner to the neighborhood early this month.

An avid amateur chef who lives in the neighborhood with his wife, O'Connell's goal is to move the Cheyenne to a lot his father owns on Beard Street between Van Brunt and Conover streets, about a block from Fairway.

O'Connell said he is partnering with Tom Fox, president of New York Water Taxi, to create a beer garden on a beach with imported sand in front of the Cheyenne, similar to Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City.

"We love the Water Taxi Beach and we think it would be a nice fix if we could offer some transportation down at the pier to promote the [Cheyenne] diner," O'Connell said.

O'Connell, 37, said he envisions the Cheyenne as an eco-friendly destination restaurant, perhaps using wind or solar-generated power, and plans to restore the diner's original decor. The project will cost about $40,000 in moving costs, and $400,000 to $500,000 for renovations including an additional adjoining structure for the kitchen. The opening is set for next spring.

The Art Moderne beauty -- a mainstay on Ninth Avenue near Penn Station -- was scheduled for a tear-down until April, when preservationist Michael Perlman, a fan of the diner's streamlined facade and wrap-around windows, found O'Connell to buy it for $5,000 and relocate it to a new home.

The deal is the younger O'Connell's first major independent real estate project, signalling a more prominent role in the family business, which controls roughly 1 million square feet of commercial space plus over 200 residential properties in Red Hook.

The plan to bring the Cheyenne, one of New York's last railcar-style diners, to Red Hook has won over those nostalgic for New York City's disappearing diners and others who say it will be a welcome addition to a neighborhood lacking eateries with outdoor seating.

O'Connell also wants to return a catering operation to the front of Pier 41, replacing the hall that operated there before part of the pier collapsed in the mid-90s.

The Cheyenne project is thrusting O'Connell into the spotlight that his father -- described as "part Andy Griffith, part Boss Hogg" in a New York magazine article last year -- typically revels in. O'Connell senior is alternately celebrated and criticized for reshaping Red Hook from a run-down industrial neighborhood to an enclave bracing for the impact of gentrification. Residents were concerned about traffic overwhelming their neighborhood with IKEA's opening there in June.

The spotlight has also been on Red Hook recently thanks to MTV's reality show, "The Real World." The Brooklyn Paper reported that because renovations were proceeding too slowly at its first choice for Brooklyn, BellTel Lofts in Downtown Brooklyn, the show was seeking a new spot in Red Hook. Initial articles said the show would be taking space on the O'Connell's Pier 41 -- but that site belongs to the former catering hall and is not residential. The O'Connells wouldn't comment on the reports.

Father and son have worked closely together since the younger O'Connell joined the business full-time in late 2001 -- the two often take breaks from heated arguments by having lunch together at tables behind Fairway overlooking the harbor.

"As a father, it's tough sometimes to give up the reins," said the elder O'Connell, 66. "But I'm not going to be around forever." He said he intends to pass on his business to Michael and his brother Greg, 22.

Michael O'Connell has a more reserved personality than his father and said he is happiest on a construction site, operating heavy machinery. "I'm the one who gets things done," said Michael, who arrived for an interview wearing a gray sweatshirt with a picture of a backhoe on the back.

"I've always been into older trucks and I buy equipment and renovate it, refurbish it," said Michael. "The diner to me is like a piece of equipment that somebody is going to scrap -- but actually restored. It's irreplaceable."