‘I am at your mercy.’ Roland Pena to city commissioners
Lacking a past-due rent payment, the Cast ’n’ Cage restaurant may soon have to shutter its doors.
The Historic Bridge Street Pier restaurant and bait shop owner Roland Pena appeared Oct. 16 before the Bradenton Beach City Commission, asking for an extension on his lease payments.
Pena, who operates the restaurant and bait and sundry shops on the city pier, wants city commissioners to reconsider terminating his lease.
On Oct. 8, Pena received a notice from the city that he is in violation of his lease. Due to a date discrepancy on the notice, city attorney Ricinda Perry reissued the notice Oct. 14.
The notice states that non-payment of rent violates the concession lease, and Pena has until Oct. 24 to pay all past-due rent and penalties. If he misses the deadline, the notice requires the premises be vacated by Oct. 29.
At the commission meeting, Pena proposed a payment arrangement that he said would allow him to catch up on the past-due rent. As an alternative, he offered to deed his Bradenton Beach home to the city in lieu of rent.
Pena cited issues with pier construction and mounting expenses as reasons his business slowed down a reported 40 percent in August and even more in September.
In his appeal to the commission, Pena said, “Every dime I have goes to that restaurant.”
As he offered alternatives, he said he is trying to sell his home to catch up on the pier rent. He noted the home is worth about $255,000, minus a $130,000 mortgage. Pena said, “Yes, I am at your mercy and, yes, I am asking for your help.”
City commissioners took time to discuss the matter and the potential outcome.
Vice Mayor Jack Clarke favored bringing in a new tenant for the tourist season if Pena doesn’t pay the arrears by the deadline.
Commissioner Janie Robertson argued that the city shouldn’t “shoot itself in the foot” and lose another pier concessionaire.
Mayor Bill Shearon voiced his disappointment, saying, “We’re just out of time.”
He noted the previous rent abatement given by the commission to Pena after a slump in business. The mayor was opposed to taking on real estate in lieu of the debt and also noted that a loss of rent through the tourist season would be “unacceptable.”
Shearon said, “If we delay this and get into the season and he still can’t make it, we’re getting a new tenant in off-season.”
Commissioner Jan Vosburgh spoke directly to Pena: “I know how difficult this is for you.” While she sympathized, saying she wanted to do something to help Pena, Vosburgh expressed disappointment over the flailing business.
When it came time to vote on holding Pena to the lease, only Robertson voted against the measure.
Pena declined to comment when visited at the pier, and did not return phone calls from The Islander.
I agree with most every one here…WHO would even want to do business with the city? I think we have all watched the fixtures of the pier crush this man and his business.
And it is heartless to deprive him of season!!! HEART LESS!!! We ALL know that is when we can really make bank and WHY they chose summer to fix the pier. Which had to make summer worse than any summer on record.
SOLUTION? Throw their asses in Chapter 13 bankruptcy and MAKE THEM have him for at least season. Pay everyone and get the hell out of there when season is done and exit 13.
People say they “hate to see him go – as if he is DONE.” Maybe not, someone may help him – and I am thinking of doing it if no one else does.
Sorry to hear of a small business floundering, but the lease terms are there and Pena signed it with full knowledge that the pier was going to see construction. It was part and parcel of the request for bids, and he bid knowing it was coming. There is no surprise here.
The Council and Mayor graciously lowered costs for the current construction, anyway.
What the Council and Mayor cannot do is extend credit to Pena, which is what a late-payment system would be. There is simply no legal parameter for the city to grant credit to a private business. Even if the Council wished to do it, they simply cannot do so under current law. Their hands are tied.
Likewise the idea of taking on property as collateral. Such swaps are not logistically smart for a tiny city like BB.
Sorry to see the restaurant go, but these things happen.
I would advise the Council to consider future bids using a cost-realism approach: just how reasonable is it to expect that the business will succeed given their bid? Can the business reasonably pay the lease price for the term of the lease?
It’s nice to accept the highest bidder, but only if they can pay. If anything, I think the Council is guilty of not identifying Pena’s offer as unreasonably high.
The pier is not a prime property. It should not command prime prices.
The intransigence of the BB Commission in helping this new tenant out IN THE MIDDLE OF PIER CONSTRUCTION, is pathetic! Even if you do force him to close out, what other tenant would want to reopen there? The whole attitude by the commission is anti business!
Last season, my friends and I dined at Cast ‘n Cage and enjoyed it very much! Everyone was super friendly and we had a wonderful time! Please allow them the leniency they are requesting! We would hate to have another season of no one occupying this location!
What a shame if the pier is left without a restaurant again. Surely in such a beautiful setting a business can succeed if the rent isn’t too high. If the fishing concession is not being utilised due to the pier being closed it seems unfair that rent should be paid on that. I agree with the above comments that it would be surprising if this business fails due to rent issues and slow business that anyone else would take it on.
Given the lease history of this restaurant, I can’t imagine another applicant having any interest.
Agree, the location is not visible as the other restaurants on the island and the revamp of the pier has to affect the business. I sure wouldn’t lease or do business with the city, they have no mercy, just want their payments on time. I realize there is a agreement and lease contract, but they see the obvious struggles of every past tenant. Perhaps lowering the lease amount and keeping a tenant with a bit of compassion, without wasting more money in legal fees and meeting time?
My husband and I purchased property on LBK in mid July. We discovered Cast n Cage and enjoyed it so much that we visited each time we returned; lazt visit we ate there three times in one week. It is unfortunate that September brought such big storms and flooding whichcaused unpredictable closures. It is my understanding that the tourist season begins in October but does not start in full until November. It seems unreasonable to close a business before it has had a chance to recover during it’s most lucrative time.