Anna Maria officials might find some middle ground with the owners of the City Pier Grill & Bait Shop.
City commissioners talked June 26 about potential changes to the terms of a lease agreement with GSM Partners LLC for the T-end space that’s housed the grill.
GSM Partners is comprised of Brian Seymour, the owner of the Pine Avenue General Store; Victor Mattay, owner of Dips Ice Cream; and Nick Graham, owner of Pine Avenue Bait and Tackle.
The company leased the space on the north side of the T-end after the structure was built to replace the historic pier, which was demolished in 2018 due to damage from Hurricane Irma the year before. They opened in December 2020, just months after the new pier opened.
Almost five years later, the pier is closed again, having lost stretches of its walkway to Hurricane Milton last October.
While the city plans to rebuild the walkway and reopen the pier by next fall, GSM Partners’ five-year lease for the T-end space that houses the grill will expire Dec. 31.
Seymour attended a June 12 city commission meeting to ask the board to authorize Mayor Mark Short to renegotiate the terms of the lease.
Proposed changes
The operators have an option to extend the lease for five years, but Seymour said there are several issues preventing them from locking in that extension.
He proposed several changes:
- Open the pier to the public 24 hours a day, as in the past, so the burden of opening and closing the pier no longer falls to the grill;
- Approve grill signage to match Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium Marine Science Education and Outreach Center’s T-end signage;
- Extend the T-end roof to cover the grill’s seating area;
- Renegotiate the lease for more “equitable” monthly rent, maintenance and utility costs;
- Provide credits for days lost to severe weather events;
- Increase electrical supply to the T-end.
While there was little discussion following Seymour’s June 12 presentation, Short brought the item back for commission discussion on June 26.
Commission Deputy Chair Gary McMullen, who led the meeting in Commissioner Charlie Salem’s absence, said the grill should be allowed signage to match Mote’s and he agreed with the request to bring more power to the end of the pier.
McMullen also said the grill should not be responsible for opening and closing the pier and supported reopening the pier to the public 24 hours a day.
Commissioners Christopher Arendt and John Lynch also supported reopening the pier on a 24/7 basis.
Arendt said many of Seymour’s points were “very valid” but expressed concern about extending the roof. He said he would be OK with extending the roof to the same depth as the Mote side of the T-end, which would allow space for fishing, but he would not approve extending it to the end of the pier.
He added that he wants clarification about a potential drink rail and benches — discussed by Seymour — under the extended roof, since he would not approve closing off the end of the pier to fishers.
Lynch said he supported extending the T-end roof out to the same depth as the Mote side but also would not approve of closing off space for fishing on the T-end.
The commission took no action.
The commission will meet next at 1 p.m. Thursday, July 10, at city hall, 10005 Gulf Drive.