ANNA MARIA – Mayor Dan Murphy says the City Pier grill and bait shop lease negotiations are going well with Brian Seymour and his partners, Vic Mattay and Nick Graham.
On Thursday, Sept. 10, Murphy told the city commission he’s still on track to present them with a proposed lease contract on Thursday, Sept. 24. Next Thursday’s commission meeting will begin immediately after the conclusion of the 6 p.m. final budget hearing.
During last week’s commission meeting, Murphy said he and Commissioner Jon Crane had their first fact-finding meeting earlier that week and planned to have their second meeting the following day.
“I think we’re on target, and I committed to coming back to you with a contract on the 24th. It looks pretty good. We made some significant progress in terms of getting organized. The next major step is for the city attorney to provide a draft of a contract.”
City Attorney Becky Vose told the mayor and commission she’d been working on the lease contract for three days and would finish it that night and send it to Murphy.
Murphy said he and Crane would look over the contract and send it to Seymour and his partners to review.
“And then, we can hopefully come to some agreement. We’re on track for the 24th,” Murphy said.
Crane said he echoed the mayor’s comments.
“I found the group, the three of them, to be very cooperative, very helpful. The questions they asked of us were astute and few, and they really seemed like they’re ready to get going and put out a good product out there. I was reviewing their menu again today and my mouth started watering. It was a good meeting,” Crane said.
On Tuesday, Sept. 1, the city commission deemed the group consisting of Seymour, Mattay and Graham its top choice to operate the City Pier grill and bait shop.
Seymour’s group proposed paying $6,000 per month in rent, with an annual 2.5% rent increase. The trio anticipates spending an additional $41,350 to complete the interior buildout of the city-owned building.
Seymour owns and operates the Anna Maria General Store & Deli in leased space on Pine Avenue. Mattay owns Dips Ice Cream, and shares space inside the general store. Graham manages Dips and he and his brother, Aaron, own and operate Graham Slam fishing charters in Cortez.
Seymour, Mattay and Graham are equal partners in the Pine Avenue Bait & Tackle store adjacent to the general store and are forming a similar partnership for their anticipated pier-based business operations. Seymour recently told The Sun he hopes to open the grill and bait shop before Thanksgiving.
The commission favored the Seymour group’s proposal over the proposal submitted by FP Growth Partners, who proposed paying $5,500 per month in initial base rent or 6% of gross revenues, whichever was higher. FP Growth Partners also offered to take the bait shop building as is and complete the interior buildout at no additional expense to the city. Murphy said that could save the city $50,000 to $75,000 in upfront costs.
FP Growth Partners owns and operates multiple Poppo’s Taquerias, including the Pine Avenue location.
The city currently has no plans to seek a tenant to operate a full-service restaurant in the larger of the two City Pier buildings.
