City, Boathouse hope to reach agreement for rebuild by July
The Cape Coral City Council would like to see an agreement for the Boathouse Tiki Bar & Grill come back to the board by mid-July.
Council reached the consensus Wednesday during a workshop that included discussion on its lease with the Kearns Restaurant Group for its restaurant on city land at the Yacht Club.
The Yacht Club park suffered heavy damage by Hurricane Ian, as did the popular Boathouse, which then suffered another devastating loss from a fire shortly after it re-opened.
City Manager Michael Ilczyszyn said the city is continuing to negotiate a replacement contract, or agreement, with the group.
“Essentially what we are looking at is a replacement facility that would service our community into the future,” Ilczyszyn said.
He added that would “involve a total reconstruction of what is there now, and from my perspective, what you all thought were the needs. I have been taking those and utilizing those to get to a new agreement. Zak (Kearns) is aware of those items, and we have been working to make sure all those are covered in the agreement. The hope is a replacement agreement that will reach a new building.”
Mayor John Gunter had the item placed on the agenda, not to talk about the specifics of the lease, but his concern that it is now 223 days since the fire. He said he brought the discussion forward because he believes a date certain for the agreement needed to be made, as well as talk about the damaged structure that has not been demolished.
“I have a concern with the brittle structure that is still partially erected at the Yacht Club, and we are going into hurricane season,” Gunter said. “That structure could become a liability.”
Zak Kearns, of the Kearns Restaurant Group, said they can get to an agreement within a timeline.
“We value what we have had with the city for 10 plus years. I do feel confident and what it has evolved into,” he said of the restaurant. “We are more than capable and able to do it. I am more than confident we will get a deal done.”
Kearns said they are taking an existing lease and constructing it into a concessionaire agreement.
“We are up to almost eight months,” he said, adding that they want to be back in business. “We will come to an agreement, and I am excited to do so and be there for many more years to come.”
Ilczyszyn said they are down to one item with the agreement – the Kearns Group’s return on investment of what they have to build. The options are front-loaded, level loaded, or tail end loaded.
“What we are discussing is the timing of the revenues and who participates when,” he said of the expectation of the two parties. “The rest of the deal, idea, we are basically done. I think that we are really close. If the idea is to come back in July with the terms and the deal, I don’t have any issues with that.”
City Attorney Aleksandr Boksner said if an agreement is not reached by July 16, a scheduled City Council meeting, he will take the necessary and appropriate steps for the legal best interest of the city.
As far as demolition, Kearns said they did apply for a permit, which was not handed down to them.
“I would be happy to pay for the demolition tomorrow, (if you) waive any rights against us for the safety of the residents,” he said.
Boksner said the city took the position that the Kearns Group is not lawfully permitted to take down the structure.
“I wasn’t going to permit the structure to be demolished based on evidence value,” he said.
Ilczyszyn said they are prepared to issue the demolition permit once they have an agreement that satisfies the need based on the replacement.
“Staff is on standby,” he said.
Council asked for worst-case scenarios and if the riverfront building off Driftwood Parkway could be demolished.
Boksner said there are ways to document the evidence value of the structure.
“There are ways to preserve the evidence value of what I have identified in the structure right now,” he said. “There is a legal mechanism to secure the things that remain there.”
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com