ANNA MARIA – Mayor Dan Murphy plans to present city commissioners with a shortlist containing his top two recommended City Pier grill and bait shop bidders on Tuesday, Sept. 1.
During the emergency city commission meeting at 10 a.m., the current four-member commission that consists of Carol Carter, Jon Crane, Joe Muscatello and Mark Short will accept, reject or modify Murphy’s proposed shortlist. Due to her recently announced resignation, Amy Tripp’s commission term officially ends Tuesday and she will not participate in the discussion.
The two commission-approved shortlist candidates that emerge from Tuesday’s meeting will then be given an opportunity at a future meeting to present their lease proposals and plans to operate a takeout grill and bait shop in the city-owned bait shop building at the T-end of the new City Pier.
When those presentations are made, the commissioners will individually rank the two finalists according to their first and second preferences. The individual rankings will then be tallied and Murphy will be authorized to attempt to negotiate a five-year lease with the commission’s top-ranked bidder.
The commission agreed to move forward in this manner during Thursday evening’s regular commission meeting. When recommending the shortlist approach, Murphy did not indicate which two bidders would make his shortlist or whether he had yet made that determination.
The city received four bid proposals in response to its request for proposals (RFP). The RFP sought a grill and bait shop tenant to occupy the bait shop building on the left side of the pier, as viewed from shore. According to the RFP, the bait shop building provides approximately 300 square feet of interior space.
The sealed bids were opened at city hall on Friday, Aug. 21. The names of the bidders were announced, but no additional bid proposal details have been provided to the public. The proposals have been provided to the commissioners for their review.
The city received proposals from:
- F.P. Growth Partners, represented by Patrick Coleman, whose business operations include Poppo’s Taqueria locations in Anna Maria and Bradenton;
- Brian Seymour, Vic Mattay and Nicholas Graham from The Anna Maria General Store & Deli and Dips Ice Cream in Anna Maria and Graham Slam fishing charters in Cortez;
- The father-daughter team of Sherman and Sarah Baldwin, whose Tevatan LLC operates Paradise Boat Tours and Bridge Street Bait Shop in Bradenton Beach and Hart’s Landing in Sarasota; and
- Harry’s Continental Kitchens in Longboat Key.
The city is not currently seeking a tenant to operate a full-service restaurant tenant in the larger pier building, whose future use remains undetermined.
On July 30, the commission voted 3-2 to reject the lease proposal submitted by Mike Ross and Ugly Grouper LLC. On Jan. 10, the commission unanimously rejected a lease offer proposed by Mario Schoenfelder, the longtime tenant of the old City Pier, which was closed in 2017 and demolished in 2018.
On June 19, the new City Pier opened on a limited basis and currently remains open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The City Pier will be open seven days a week when the grill and bait shop tenant begins business operations.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, city hall capacity remains limited. In-person meeting attendance is allowed, but attendees must wear face coverings. Tuesday’s meeting can also be accessed via teleconferencing by calling 1-929-205-6099 and entering the meeting ID, which is 81286532578.
Related coverage:
Four bids eyeing City Pier grill and bait shop
