The city of Bradenton Beach’s eviction of Cast-n-Cage Restaurant from the Historic Bridge Street Pier will be heard by Judge Charles Sniffen in 12th Judicial Circuit Court beginning at 2:30 p.m. April 27.
“We’re trying desperately to get a sooner date,” Mayor Bill Shearon told commissioners at the end of their March 24 workshop at city hall, 107 Gulf Drive N., Bradenton Beach. “We’re pleading to the court that … it’s costing us $2,000 a week by not getting this resolved.”
Meanwhile, preparing for an eviction, Shearon said he sent the final draft for the request for proposal and lease for a new pier concessionaire to city attorney Ricinda Perry for review. He expects the two documents to be on the agenda for the next commission meeting, at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 2.
The mayor also asked commissioners to provide him with sources to which the RFP could be sent, such as restaurant associations.
The lease agreement and RFP are based on documents that Manatee County uses for concessionaires. A major difference between Bradenton Beach’s current RFP-pier lease and the new ones is the incorporation of profit sharing.
“It’s a completely different concept,” Shearon said March 25. “The current lease we have has a fixed dollar amount every month which, in my perception, is a tough nut to crack because … it’s not seasonal.”
Before defaulting on his March 1 rent, Cast-n-Cage concessionaire Roland Pena paid the city nearly $7,200 monthly. This included rent for the restaurant, bait shop and harbormaster office, plus the 2015 property taxes.
The new concessionaire will pay a monthly base rent of $2,500-$3,000, the exact amount to be determined by the commission, plus a percentage of gross revenue. After $250,000 of gross revenue, the percentage to the city would increase.
“If they make money, we’ll make money,” Shearon said. “In the slow months, we get less rent, but in the busy months, we get more rent.”
Including the percentage of revenue in the lease, rather than accepting a flat-rate rent, can be construed as running government like a business, a concept Shearon embraces.
“That’s my whole approach,” he said. “It has to be a win-win. If it isn’t a win-win, then it doesn’t work.”
Shearon added that commissioners may consider the 31-page RFP to be too long, but the conditions listed in it and the lease are well defined, such as the requirement that the concessionaire file an audited financial statement annually. The goal is to ensure that qualified bidders apply.
“There’s accountability,” Shearon said. “It’s a professional business approach to the city property.”