Seafood Shack parcel sale closes
CORTEZ – Manatee County purchased the Seafood Shack and Marina on Dec. 31 after delays caused in part by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Manatee County Property Acquisition Division Manager Charles Meador made the announcement at a Jan. 8 Manatee County Commission meeting.
“We had this agenda item on here just to provide an update, but fortunately over the past week we were able to close on the property, so that is the update, so now we left it on here so we could announce to the public that we own the property,” Manatee County Deputy County Administrator Bryan Parnell said. “It was a long journey.”
The property, which consists of seven upland parcels of approximately 5.9 acres and two submerged land leases of 2.9 acres, was appraised at $12.55 million. That appraisal assumed that two expired submerged land leases will be renewed
Commissioners unanimously approved the $13 million purchase from Vandyk Properties at a Sept. 5 land use meeting with anticipated use of the property as a public boating access facility with a boat ramp, dry storage facility and marina.
“There’s so much storm damage, the property’s unsafe; all of the facilities are condemned and we’ll have to rebuild with our new design,” Parnell said. “Most of the slips and docks and piers are destroyed as well. There’s 10 to 15 boats that are still capsized and unable to be removed. We’ll have to work through with our natural resources folks to make sure those boats are removed, and the property is made safe, so we’re going to put up a fence and make sure to cordon off the property.”
Commissioners discussed the next steps for the project, plans and possible amenities and potential leases for existing businesses on the parcel.
Commissioners Tal Siddique and George Kruse both spoke in favor of keeping Annie’s Bait and Tackle in place.
“What are we going to do about the existing leases? There’s been a lot of great places here, like Annie’s and other places, that have been longtime staples of that property,” Siddique said. “I’m fully on board with the board discussing options to discuss what the future might look like for places that currently have agreements with the prior property owner and at least having public input on that.”
“Annie’s has been there for a long time, I don’t care if we call it a marina, I don’t care if we call it a boat ramp, I don’t care if we call it a fishing pier, people need bait. It’s a part of Cortez, and Bruce (Annie’s co-owner Bruce Shearer) is willing to put money in to get that back up and running but he can’t do that without some assurance that he’s going to have a viable business,” Kruse said. “He’s not going to put money into it just to have it knocked down.”
He asked project planners to reach out to Shearer.
“Start that conversation to see if that’s a viable option,” Kruse said. “I’d love for that to be a viable option. I think the community in Cortez would love that. It will give them some sense of normalcy in that area if we make changes to the Seafood Shack footprint. That’s my request to you.”
Annie’s has been in its current location since the 1950s and has been co-owned by Bruce Shearer and Kim Shepherd since Jan. 1, 1995. The shop sells bait and tackle, gas, beer and ice along with food served from a waterfront patio.
Annie’s building and docks sustained damage during Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Shearer spoke to The Sun following the Jan. 8 commission meeting.
“I would be willing to put the money into it to get it back together if I could get a five-year lease from the county,” he said. “I could be back in business in a short time.”
He said it would be up to the landowner, the county, to repair the docks and he would be responsible for repairing the building.
In addressing possible traffic issues, Siddique said he would like to see ferry service run from the new facility to the Bradenton Beach Pier.
“This can allow us to reduce the number of cars on the road and give residents who are not boaters an ability to leverage this boat ramp,” Siddique said. “It would be a good idea to be good stewards of traffic, our neighbors and residents of the county who don’t want to sit in traffic going to the Island, Bridge Street, in particular, and just enjoy it. The design absolutely needs to include ferry storage and a ferry transit option to Bridge Street.”
He also noted that with the planned replacement of the Cortez Bridge in 2026 and the Manatee Bridge replacement planned after that, two fishing locations will be lost.
“With the new heights of the bridges, we will be losing two informal fishing locations. I do want staff to solicit public input and consider what we can do to allow residents to enjoy the boat ramp and have some place to cast a line and fish,” Siddique said. “At least have the design and option to fish in that spot. It’s just a great pastime and it’s a historic fishing village for a reason.”
He asked for the final marina design to consider noise abatement and pedestrian safety.
“The one thing I’m concerned about is Manatee County running a marina effectively competing with private businesses,” Siddique said. “I think we’re straying out of our core competency on that one. I’m open to be convinced otherwise, but I’ll tell you, there will be pushback you’ll see from residents and some of the business owners there.”
“The primary requirement for meeting here is we’re just putting in a boat ramp right now,” Parnell said. “If there’s additional scope through working groups that the board wants us to incorporate in there, then we’ll have those discussions.”
“I know it’s been a long haul with that seller, now let’s do something great with it,” Kruse said.
