the 941

Scott Proffitt, one of the owners of downtown’s Main Bookshop, attended the City Commission meeting on Monday and offered his thoughts on the new lease Marina Jack negotiated with the City of Sarasota.

City investigates sweet deal for marina interests

The City Commission received the results of a review of the leases negotiated with Marina Jack, O’Leary’s and Mattison’s restaurants at  Monday’s Commission meeting and these results were mixed.

Where Mattison’s Restaurant was paying almost $17 per square foot (for those who have never understood this square foot thing, you take the rate per square feet and multiply it by the number of feet rented.  This is the annual rent.  Divide by 12 to get monthly rent and then the other issues are who is paying property taxes, water, common area maintenance, electric, etc…) Barry Abramson, of the eponymous Abramson & Associates, who performed this review, felt this was a “not unreasonable” rate.  Considering that much of Mattison’s is open space I would say that the City is doing very well indeed.

Marina Jack, on the other hand, pays 3 percent of gross revenues to the City of Sarasota, and pays no ad valorem taxes.  Go ask any restaurateur if they would be happy paying 3 percent of the gross sales in rent, much less no taxes.  On top of this, the lease is now extended to like 2047.  Who gets forty-year leases?  These are the deals that make citizens lose faith in government.  These arrangements are why the city is cash-strapped and having to let go of employees.  I would go so far as to question as to whether the city could go back and renegotiate, citing the mental competency of any commission who would agree to a forty-year lease.  I am well aware that Marina Jack (Jack Graham Inc.) would argue they have had significant capital expenditures (they built the restaurant) but they have been able to amortize that over the last forty years of incredibly favorable terms they received from the city.

To be fair, several current commissioners are questioning this truly unconscionable lease arrangement.  The most noticeable at this meeting being Kelly Kirschner who appears to be concerned over this situation and aware of the anger many taxpayers feel at the loss of significant revenue the city tossed away.  Whether anything can be done to ameliorate the situation is another matter.  Perhaps Jack Graham Inc will feel so guilty they will offer to change the terms of the lease out of civic duty?

Scott Proffitt has a little extra time on his hands these days while he is working on the repairs to his book store. Main Bookshop suffered severe damage when the sprinklers system went off a couple months ago. His “Inside Flap” column will be a regular feature on The 941 as long as he feels like writing it. 

Bookmark to:

Posted in Current Affairs, Editor's Desk, News, Politics, Sarasota | Leave a comment