The new Anna Maria City Pier is almost open, but loose ends linger with regard to the tenant.
Anna Maria commissioners May 28, during a teleconferenced meeting, unanimously approved a motion allowing the city attorney to negotiate a settlement to end the lease with Mario Schoenfelder, pier tenant since May 2000.
According to the lease, Schoenfelder’s tenancy ends Dec. 15. However, rent was abated after the city closed the pier due to damages from Hurricane Irma in September 2017.
The pier was demolished and construction on a new pier began in 2018.
When lease negotiations between Mayor Dan Murphy and Schoenfelder ran aground in January, the city issued a request for proposals for the restaurant and bait shop tenant on the T-end of the pier.
In May, the city commission approved a bid for the restaurant from Mike Ross, co-owner of the Ugly Grouper restaurant in Holmes Beach.
Murphy is in the first phase of lease negotiations with Ross and reported to commissioners May 28 that meetings between himself and Ugly Grouper representatives have gone well, and a buildout of the restaurant could be forthcoming.
However, in a March 27 letter to Murphy, Schoenfelder’s attorney, Lori Dorman, wrote that the city did not meet the lease requirement to maintain casualty insurance for the pier and must restore it to its condition prior to Hurricane Irma.
A May 15 response from city attorney Becky Vose indicated that Dorman told Vose and Murphy in an April 15 conference call that Schoenfelder was interested in reopening until the new tenant takes over, which Vose wrote, “came as a shock.” She said the city was unaware Schoenfelder had plans to reopen.
Vose also wrote that the city “was able to design, obtain permits and construct the replacement pier utilizing its own funds, rather than waiting for third party insurance proceeds to pay for such work.”
Dorman responded May 21 that the city’s “failure to maintain insurance on the pier delayed reconstruction.”
Her letter also stated that construction delays incurred $130,000 in losses for her client.
She wrote that Schoenfelder could possibly reopen after the restoration and buildout is complete in September for about three months — until a new tenant takes over.
Or the lease could be terminated by the city with a payment to Schoenfelder of $65,000.
“Never once was the pier construction held up as a result of not having funding,” Murphy said May 28, adding the city had to secure permits from 22 agencies, during which time the city obtained pier funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the state and the county tourist development tax fund.
Murphy said the city could pay Schoenfelder $65,000, could authorize Vose to conduct settlement negotiations or could proceed with the buildout and let Schoenfelder return and pay $5,000 rent per month until the lease expires.
Murphy said the Ugly Grouper was OK with any choice the city made in the matter.
The mayor recommended letting Vose work on a settlement.
Commissioners agreed and unanimously approved a motion made by Muscatello for the city attorney to begin settlement negotiations.
“We’ve got a new concessionaire, we’re ready to negotiate with them,” Commissioner Jonathan Crane said. “Let’s just get this behind us.”