CORTEZ – Ending speculation about the identity of the new owner of the Seafood Shack Restaurant and Marina, the Manatee Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved its $13 million purchase at a Sept. 5 land use meeting.
Prior to the vote, Manatee County Property Acquistion Division Manager Charles Meador spoke about the proposed use for the property, which consists of seven upland parcels of approximately 5.9 acres and two submerged land leases of 2.9 acres. He said the property will provide a public boating access facility to include a boat ramp, dry storage facility and marina.
“If the property is acquired by the county and developed as a private boat ramp facility, the site has the potential to increase the number of available boat trailer parking spaces up to 25% countywide,” he said.
Sherri Swanson, Manatee County Ecological Resources Division Manager, said the new facility will help with the current shortage of county boat ramps.
“The county currently operates nine saltwater access public boat ramps providing 17 launch lanes and approximately 234 trailer parking spaces. Considering Manatee County’s population of over 400,000 residents as of 2023 and considering the Parks and Recreation Open Space Master Plan and the adoptive level of service of one boat ramp per 7,500 residents, we should be offering approximately 59 boat ramp lanes,” Swanson said. “Which means we have a deficiency of 42 lanes.”
She said the new facility would provide up to 65 additional trailer parking spaces and up to 100 marine slips.
Commissioner Amanda Ballard asked about the cost to get the public boating access facility running.
“It depends on the board’s direction,” Manatee County Administrator Charlie Bishop said. “The current marina is in poor shape. If we want to extend the marina out and add more slips, there’s a lot of options on the table so we have to go through the process.”
Bishop said there is about $20-$21 million available in the CIP (Capital Improvement Plan) fund.
“Like Charlie explained, there’s $20.8 million that was originally in the CIP 24-28 designated for the Peninsula Bay program. Unfortunately, that project is not feasible so they’re going to utilize this,” Manatee County Budget Office Chief Financial Officer Sheila McLean said. “Fortunately, we have this opportunity to take those funds. We’re using our own cash reserves and some infrastructure sales tax.”
“The Peninsula Bay project became unfeasible, ballooned to about $30 million. We have $21 million in the bank for it which wasn’t going to cut it,” Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge said. “This opportunity came up. We can achieve the same objective faster and cheaper by doing this.”
PUBLIC COMMENT
James Morganroth, who operates a boat business at the Seafood Shack Marina, was the sole speaker during the public comment portion of the meeting.
“I don’t know if the county is in the business of operating any marinas currently or any restaurants, those things are already operating on that property,” he said. “I’m not opposed to the county owning this property. I want the board, and anybody involved, to consider any of the current businesses that are operating out of the marina there. And any of the current employees that are working, whether Seafood Shack, Annie’s, Cortez Watersports, any of the other boat businesses, I want that to be a consideration if that property is approved for purchase.”
Van Ostenbridge addressed Morganroth’s concerns.
“I assume the board will act as a landlord and essentially create a revenue source by leasing slips and continue to lease space to those businesses that are already there,” he said. “We’re not looking to put anybody out of work.”
Bruce Shearer, co-owner of one of the businesses on the property, Annie’s Bait and Tackle, hopes that to be case.
“I’m not ready to retire,” Shearer said. “So, I hope we can be here a while longer.”
Shearer said he heard about the purchase “through the grapevine,” but said no one has spoken to him yet about the county’s plans for Annie’s.
TIMELINE
The Seafood Shack, 4110 127th St. W. in Cortez, was built in 1972 and for many years was an iconic dining spot on the Intracoastal Waterway.
The property was listed for sale by Elliot Rose and David Neff of Coldwell Banker Commercial Property in April 2023 and was recently reported as “under contract.”
In May 2024, the county had the property appraised by Colliers Valuation and Advisory Services. The appraised value was $12,550,000 for the property with all improvements. That appraisal assumed that two expired submerged land leases will be renewed. An agreement was then negotiated with the seller, Vandyk Properties, at $13 million.
While the submerged land leases are expired, the seller has temporary use agreements (TUA’s) in place. The county’s property acquisition division reached out to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) for clarification regarding the leases. Officials were told by FDEP that once the county owns the land, the county and the agency can work together to finalize a long-term submerged lands lease.
On July 15, an environmental site assessment was completed by the county’s consultant, Tierra Inc., and showed no evidence of recognized environmental conditions.
According to the sales contract, the closing will take place in October.
UNANIMOUS APPROVAL
Van Ostenbridge made two motions, both seconded by Commissioner Jason Bearden.
The first was for the adoption of a budget resolution amending the annual budget from Manatee County for fiscal year 2024. The amendment adjusts the FY24-28 CIP, appropriating $13,100,000 for property acquisition costs. The motion passed 6-0.
The second was the execution of a contract for sale and purchase from Vandyk Properties of Seafood Shack Properties for the purpose of boat ramp expansion in the amount of $13,000,000. The motion also passed 6-0.
“The citizens and the fishermen will be very happy, we have more boat ramps coming out with parking,” BOCC Chair Mike Rahn said after the vote.
“We’ve been having briefings for quite a while on this,” Manatee County Commissioner George Kruse told The Sun after the meeting. “We had to keep this under wraps since there were others who were interested in the property.”
Kruse noted that the property is zoned ROR (retail/office/residential), which is the highest density allowed in Manatee County.
“This will keep development low around Cortez and will help the area restaurants,” he said. “This is the most ready-made boat ramp you’ll ever see. Everything is already there.”
