ANNA MARIA – The city of Anna Maria received two bids from parties interested in leasing the restaurant and bait shop buildings on the new Anna Maria City Pier.
Thad Treadwell and Mike Ross from the Ugly Grouper in Holmes Beach submitted a bid, as did Sean Murphy, owner of the Beach Bistro, Eat Here and The Doctor’s Office in Holmes Beach.
Current pier tenant Mario Schoenfelder did not submit a bid proposal in response to the RFP the city issued in January. Nor did any other restaurateurs or restaurant groups.
Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy opened the sealed bids during a public pier bid opening at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8. That date and time also served as the deadline to submit a bid proposal.
The public pier bid opening was conducted as a virtual meeting with most meeting attendees participating by phone, including city commissioners Carol Carter and Amy Tripp
The proposed monthly base rent amounts and all other details contained in the RFP proposals received are not currently available to the media or the public.
After opening the sealed bids in the presence of City Clerk LeAnne Addy, Murphy said, “Those are the two bids we’ve received. The way this process works is we’ll have 30 days to do an analysis of these bids. I don’t suppose it will take 30 days. It is my anticipation that I would be able to report on these bids, back the commission, by the April 23 meeting at 6 p.m.” Murphy said.
“These bids are confidential for 30 days – or they’re not confidential once I release them back to the commission and make a report on the bids. If we give a report back on April 23, they would then become public record,” Murphy said.
After Murphy presents his report to the city commission, the commissioners will decide whether to accept or reject the proposals. If the commission accepts the proposals, the commission will then rank the proposals and authorize Murphy to discuss and negotiate lease terms with the top ranked bidder.
If the discussions and negotiations with the top-ranked bidder do not produce a suitable lease agreement, the mayor will seek commission authorization to discontinue those discussions and begin a similar process with the second-highest ranked bidder.
According to the RFP, “The city reserves the right to reject any or all proposals with or without cause; to waive any or all irregularities with regard to the specifications and to make the award to the proposer offering the greatest advantage to the city. All bids must be sealed and will be rejected if received after the submission date and time.”
The opening date for the new pier walkway and T-end platform for fishing and sightseeing remains unknown due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Murphy has previously stated that he intends to make the new pier and pier restrooms open to the public while the pier tenant completes the interior buildouts of the city-owned buildings.
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