Bradenton Beach officials announced May 12 they gave Cast-n-Cage Restaurant owner Roland Pena through May 31 to vacate the Historic Bridge Street Pier.
Twelfth Judicial Circuit Judge Doug Henderson ruled for the city May 7, evicting Pena for failure to pay his lease payment on time in March and three other months in 2014.
Mayor Bill Shearon and other city officials met with Pena May 11. Shearon said May 13 the city denied Pena’s request to remain open — serving customers through May 31 for the Memorial Day holiday — and then take two weeks to remove his property and equipment.
“We would have had to charge him more rent,” Shearon said of any arrangement that keeps Pena in the restaurant into June.
Shortly after Pena defaulted, commissioners began the process of revising the city’s request for proposal and lease agreement for the pier restaurant. But they waited to advertise for a new concessionaire until after the trial.
Shearon, a former live-aboard boater, said he hopes the next pier restaurateur offers a casual atmosphere “where people could come in off of their boat and have a burger, a nice meal.” He stressed the need for the next concessionaire to serve breakfast, as the restaurant does now.
“We have limited opportunities for breakfast in Bradenton Beach,” the mayor said.
In addition to the restaurant, Shearon said the next concessionaire must be someone who will either run or sub-lease the bait shop. The successful bidder also will be responsible for a third business unit on the pier, with no specific use designated by the city.
Two other piers on Anna Maria Island have restaurants that appear to be successful operations, the privately owned Rod & Reel Pier and the Anna Maria City Pier, both in Anna Maria. Shearon said there is plenty of business for all three piers.
Commissioners plan to hold another workshop at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 20, to discuss the RFP. They have already reached consensus to charge the new tenant a base rent of $2,500 with annual increases of 3 percent, plus an undetermined percentage of gross revenues.
Potential concessionaires will submit their proposed percentage payment as part of the RFP process. That will be one of the factors in the city’s choice for a successor.
“That’s one way to distinguish between A or B,” Shearon said.
Pena paid $6,800 rent for both March and April for the restaurant, bait shop and the harbormaster office.
Charging a lower base rent while assessing a percentage of sales is expected to be a more popular payment arrangement among potential concessionaires than the high base rent.
Dave Russell is familiar with paying rent to the city of Bradenton Beach. As owner of Rotten Ralph’s, the restaurant that preceded Cast-n-Cage on the pier, Russell said recently in a comment on The Islander website: “For five years I paid almost $9,000 a month for rent for Rotten Ralph’s.
“The city told me I should have applied for relief within 30 days of Tropical Storm Debby (in 2012) and then turned around and tried to apply five years worth of retroactive rent increases on me. They refused to renew my lease even if I paid all back rent and penalties and now they are going to put the pier out for bid for $2,500 a month? What is going on?”
Rotten Ralph’s reopened in Bradenton but that operation also failed. Russell said it was a great loss for his family — including his mother, Doreen. Dave Russell’s late father, Ralph Russell, founded the business — and enjoyed many years running a successful waterfront restaurant in Anna Maria.