FORT PIERCE — Crabby’s Dockside was months behind on rent and years behind on property tax refunds when it closed after the city ordered the marina restaurant to pay, officials said at a Feb. 17 City Commission meeting.
That explanation contradicts what the restaurant chain said in a February 12 Facebook post announcing the impending closure, which took place on February 15. According to the post, the closing of Crabby’s was “a decision that was out of our control.”
The commissioners directly challenged that statement, and some of the social media reaction to it, at the meeting.
“I’m not a social media person, but I’ve been exposed to social media on this particular topic, and the dichotomy between fact and fiction on this topic is extreme,” said Commissioner Michael Broderick, after laying out his four decades of expertise and knowledge in commercial real estate. “This is not an action taken by the city of Fort Pierce. This is a tenant default. The tenant has defaulted on the lease. You can put it in the paper, put it in the news.
Crabby’s Dockside in Fort Pierce appears to be a large ship docked in the Indian River Lagoon.
Crabby’s was four months behind on its rent when the city notified the restaurant that it had not received its lease, Broderick said. Since the notice, the fifth month’s rent has gone unpaid, Broderick said.
Crabby’s signed a lease in 2018, agreeing to pay the city $159,558 in rent annually plus 7 percent of liquor sales over $600,000; 2% of food sales over $2.5 million; and 5% of ice cream sales over $100,000.
In addition, according to Broderick, the lease requires Crabby’s to reimburse the city for property taxes assessed to the city for the property. Broderick said the city hasn’t received those payments for about three years, which could mean $215,000 was paid by the city and never repaid by Crabby’s.
City Manager Richard Chess later clarified that the county had not sent the city a property tax bill for the three years, meaning the city did not have the documentation to send the bills to Crabby. When the county asked the city to pay three years of taxes at once, the city paid that bill and billed Crabby’s. The restaurant has not reimbursed the city, Chess said.
“The county gave us three years worth of bills at one point. We paid it, then we billed the customer, the tenant, and they didn’t pay it,” Chess said.
Chess said he was made aware of the unpaid rent and tax refunds on Feb. 5 and immediately served notice to Crabby that he was in breach of the lease.
“We didn’t know we were behind on our rent payments. We didn’t know we were behind on our property taxes. The moment we found out, we put out a notice,” Chess said.
The letter gave Crabby until February 15 to pay the money he owed the city. The demand in the ad was simple: “Give us our money,” Chess said.
Crabby closed on Feb. 15, but, Chess said, the city did not officially evict him or tell him to vacate the property.
“I didn’t say we were going to kick them out. I just said the city will take further legal action if necessary. It’s as strong as that language was in the cure letter,” Chess said.
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Several city commissioners questioned Chess about why the city didn’t notify Crabby sooner. Chess said he shares those concerns and frustrations, and that a city employee must have known the payments weren’t coming, but was never told. Shah encouraged all city employees to speak up when something is wrong.
“Our staff needs to change their behavior,” Chess said, without naming any individuals.
Chess also said an initiative that began when he was hired a year ago is underway — compiling a list of all city-owned properties and the status of their leases — that will help prevent this from happening again.
Looking ahead, commissioners said there may be issues with the property’s title, but once those are resolved, the city will look to bring in a new operator, hopefully one even better than Crabby’s.
“We have an opportunity to take an asset and improve it,” Broderick said, adding that he hopes the city will “ultimately secure a new provider that the citizens of Fort Pierce will be excited about.”
Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky said some interesting potential operators have already expressed interest.
Crabby’s property is the former location of the Original Tiki Bar, a local favorite that closed in 2019 after the city chose not to renew its lease and instead solicit bids from potential restaurateurs. Crabby’s was chosen and built the current building, which opened in 2020.
Wicker Perlis is TCPalm’s Watchdog reporter for St. Louis County. Lucia. You can contact him at wicker.perlis@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Crabby’s restaurant closed for unpaid rent, taxes in Fort Pierce