$16,000 in rent reimbursement paid by city to Turtle Kraals

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

 

Foot dragging on the part of Key West City project managers will cost taxpayers almost $16,000, with more to come.

 

Members of the Key West Bight Management District Board voted unanimously Feb. 11 to issue a rent reimbursement to Turtle Kraals, the waterfront restaurant in the Key West Historic Seaport owned by Pat Croce. Croce took over the lease at the city-owned building in 2012. As part of the lease agreement, the city accepted responsibility to fix a cracked exterior wall surrounding a 253-square-foot storage area at the restaurant.

 

However, the repair job bogged down and was never started.

 

“We were told not to use the room in 2012. We were told the project was moving forward. It’s not fair to pay rent on space we’re not using,” David Thibault, event manager at Turtle Kraals told Bight Board members at their meeting.

 

Turtle Kraals currently pays the city $24,000 a month plus a $4 per square foot fee for boardwalk maintenance. Calculating the rent for the 253-square-foot storage room since Croce took over the lease in 2012, Jeffrey Sorg, Croce CEO, said the company has overpaid the city $503.45 a month, totaling $15,968.

 

Doug Bradshaw, Key West Port and Marine Services Director, agreed, saying that the city had originally hired Chen Moore & Associates for $9,500 to design the repair job. Draft engineering drawings were finished in July 2013 but then the Chen Moore project manager left and the repair job was put on hold until a new manager could be hired.

 

“Unfortunately, continued turmoil at Chen Moore as well as changes with city staff project management continued to delay the project for over a year,” he told Bight Board members in a memo. And at their Feb. 11, Bradshaw said, “It has been one step forward and two steps back.”

 

Although Bradshaw was not port and marine services director during the confusion, he accepted responsibility for the delay. Acknowledging that Bradshaw was not directly accountable, Bight Board Member Steve Henson was, nonetheless, appalled that the city had broken its promise.

 

“You just can’t let something like this go for three years. It costs money,” he said. “A landlord has an obligation to his tenants. It puts the city and us in a bad light. We just can’t let something ride for three years.”

 

“If it’s sitting out there, let’s get it taken care of,” said Bight Board Member Kathryn Ovide.

 

In addition to a rent reimbursement check for $15,968, Turtle Kraals will also receive a monthly rent reduction of $503.45 going forward until the storage room is repaired. Bradshaw said he has fast-tracked the construction bid documents and estimated it would take six months to make the repairs.

 

“If we can make it any faster, we’ll do it,” he promised board members.

 

Of all the city-owned commercial properties in the historic seaport area, only Turtle Kraals and the Conch Republic restaurant have a clause in their leases requiring the city to give rent abatements or reductions when “the tenant cannot reasonably conduct business operations in the premises.” The newer seaport leases took out that clause.

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