Mote is out, but GSM Partners is sticking around — and taking on a bigger role.
Anna Maria city commissioners unanimously voted June 11 to approve a five-year lease with GSM to operate a bait shop, bar and grill on the T-end of the city pier.
GSM, which will operate on the pier under PIERadise, is owned by Brian Seymour, Benjamin Sato and Jason Sato.
The corporate structure has changed, as Seymour and other partners previously operated the City Pier Grill & Bait Shop out of the smaller building on the north side of the T-end before the 2024 hurricanes damaged the pier.
Mote Marine Laboratory operated an outreach center out of the T-end’s larger building on the east side, but the commission voted in January to terminate its lease.
Work rebuilding the pier’s destroyed walkway began last November and is projected to be completed in early July.
However, the pier will not reopen until this fall, since remediation of the T-end buildings has yet to begin.
In the meantime, Mayor Mark Short has been negotiating a new lease with GSM since April. That deal was on the agenda for the June 11 commission meeting.
The contract has an initial 60-month term, but the tenant will have the option to extend it 60 months.
After 120 months, an extension will require commission approval.
The terms require GSM to pay $12,000 in monthly base rent, plus taxes and a portion of the utility costs. That rate will be adjusted every year based on the consumer price index, up to 3% annually.
The contract specifies that GSM’s permitted use will be for “family-friendly, high-quality and simple grill-style, take-out food and beverage service, a bar area serving beer and wine or non-alcoholic beverages, and a fishing bait and tackle area available to the general public.”
GSM will be responsible for furnishing and maintaining equipment necessary for operations, performing “all maintenance of all areas of the T-end,” as well as paying for improvement and build-out costs.
The company also will be required to pay $10,000 to the city to assist in the cost of opening the shell of the eastern T-end building by replacing sections of it with hurricane-rated sliding doors and/or a “garage-door type system.”
On top of that, the city will be responsible for restoring the premises to “a usable condition similar to the condition it was in prior to Hurricanes Helene and Milton.”
It also will prioritize the review and approval process for any permits required for improvements and build-out work.
Short said it is a “very fair” lease, especially since GSM will handle T-end maintenance, which could save the city $3,000-$4,000 per month.
Seymour, at the meeting, called the deal a “win-win.”
City commissioners also unanimously voted to authorize Short to negotiate with Anna Maria-based Tangerine Group for demolition and remediation work on the T-end.
The work will involve repairing the pier’s platform, remediating two buildings and gutting bathrooms.
Tangerine Group was one of four contractors to respond to the city’s request for proposals.
The contractor’s $99,311.10 bid was the second-most expensive but received the highest score in the city’s evaluation. Sebring-based Rapid Response Disaster Services submitted the lowest bid at $30,000 and Jacksonville-based Sweetwater Restoration submitted the highest at $168,191.04.
The city issued another RFP for contractors to open the shell of the T-end’s eastern building, and that will be handled as a separate project.
Two contractors, Tangerine Group and Longboat Key-based Eason Builders Group, submitted bids.
Short had not presented a recommendation for the contractor as of June 12.