ANNA MARIA – The soft opening of the new Anna Maria City Pier is scheduled for Friday, June 19.
Mayor Dan Murphy proposed the soft opening to city commissioners on Thursday, May 28 and the commission provided unanimous consensus support.
Murphy expects the final inspections of the new pier to be completed between June 8 and June 12. This leaves an additional week to address any remaining issues and prepare for the pier opening on June 19.
Initially, the pier will be open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The pier will initially remain closed on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Murphy is in the preliminary stages of discussing and then negotiating a long-term lease agreement for the use of the city-owned restaurant and bait shop buildings. Those ongoing lease discussions are taking place with Ugly Grouper LLC, which is represented by Ugly Grouper restaurant co-owner Mike Ross and General Manager Thad Treadwell.
Murphy said not having a new pier tenant in place when the pier opens creates the need for two off-duty deputies to serve as security guards while the pier is open. He said one deputy would be on the shore and one would be on the pier.
“The pier would be open for visitors, sightseers and fishing. Social distancing would be required and there are signs that will be posted on the pier. We would recommend no alcohol beverages be allowed on the pier, but fishermen would be allowed to bring their coolers,” Murphy said.
Murphy said the initial Monday-Thursday pier closures will allow the new pier tenant to begin the interior buildouts of the city-owned buildings without the public being on the pier.
“I agree with your idea of a soft opening, with the possibility of closing it right back up if there are a lot of problems. We might as well give it a shot,” Commissioner Joe Muscatello said.
“It sounds good. Let’s keep our fingers crossed,” Commissioner Amy Tripp said.
“I am one of those people that believes we’re not out of the woods on the virus yet, so the social distancing caveat is important to me, but I think it’s a good step forward,” Commissioner Jon Crane said.
Commissioner Mark Short agreed with the soft opening approach and asked for more clarification as to why the pier will be closed at 5 p.m. three days a week and closed entirely for four days a week.
“One is economics. It’s expensive to put security guards on the pier,” Murphy said, noting
the need to prevent vandalism and monitor pier user behavior.
“Secondly, I would anticipate that we might be working on the buildouts soon. We would have people on the pier working and I don’t think it’s a good situation to have workmen carrying tools, equipment and materials while there’s people on the pier,” Murphy said.
The new City Pier replaces the old pier that was closed in September 2017 due in part to damage the pier and pier buildings sustained during Hurricane Irma.
Lease discussions
Murphy told the commission he’d already conducted one fact-finding meeting with Ross and Treadwell, and was conducting another the following morning and a third and final fact-finding meeting this week.
Murphy said each meeting features discussion on five of the 15 key lease considerations included in the meeting packets. Those considerations include determining when the new lease commences, defining the scope of business to be conducted, the seating, the meals to be served and discussing the potential lease of additional common areas.
The lease considerations include the tenant’s buildout plan, parking provisions, signs, naming rights, the shared maintenance of the common areas, insurance, tax and utilities responsibilities and the monthly base rent and/or percentage-based rent to be paid to the city.
“Things are really going well thus far. Mr. Ross and Mr. Treadwell are very excited about reaching an agreement,” Murphy said.
Murphy said he expects the formal pier lease negotiations to come before the commission during the third week of June.
