Controversial Mallory Square restaurant delayed again by city officials

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

So near, yet so far.

Approximately three months after local restauranteur Joe Walsh won his most recent appeal of the city’s objection to his plan to build a restaurant in Mallory Square – causing the city attorney to recommend that the city quit fighting and “respect” the judge’s decision – some city officials are refusing to back down.

As a result, although Walsh was hoping for the final approval for his major development plan calling for a 156-seat, 2,344 square-foot restaurant and historic museum at the May 21 city commission meeting, the matter has been postponed again, probably until mid-July.

There have been a host of objections and accompanying changes to Walsh’s proposal, leading to the plan being delayed for over nine years. The latest stone in the road came from next-door neighbor Margaritaville Key West Resort, which wrote a last-minute letter objecting to the restaurant plan, asking instead that the site, which houses the historic cable huts, be turned over to a non-profit organization and restored as a museum. One of the objections from the hotel was that the plan includes a 300-square-foot kitchen, too small for a full kitchen, requiring food to be transported from other Walsh-owned restaurants.

Bart Smith, an attorney representing Margaritaville, spoke at the May 21 commission meeting and said the current restaurant plan does not conform to the original request for proposal that was initially put out by the city in 2010.

“This was a small café. Now, we’re looking at trying to put in a 156-seat restaurant that doesn’t even have a kitchen on this property,” Smith said.

Margaritaville currently operates its own outdoor restaurant at the edge of Mallory Square close to where Walsh’s eatery and bar would be. The previous hotel owners, when it was a Westin Hotel, had vigorously objected to the new restaurant as well, forcing Walsh to change the design from two stories to one story to preserve the water view of some of the hotel rooms.

City Manager Jim Scholl and Commissioner Jimmy Weekley said they were unaware that the kitchen would not be full-service and asked that the major development plan be sent back to the planning board for consideration. Planning Director Patrick Wright also changed his opinion at the last minute, backing away from his April 2 recommendation that the major development plan be approved. Even City Attorney Shawn Smith, who in March recommended that commissioners respect a Circuit Court Judge’s decision in favor of Walsh, said at the May 21 meeting that commissioners needed to decide if Walsh’s current proposal is consistent with the original RFP.

This about-face dumfounded Walsh, who pointed out to commissioners that the restaurant plan with the small kitchen has not been changed since March 2017. Since that final design was submitted two and a half years ago, the plan has been approved by the planning director and Scholl himself, who according to Walsh, signed off on the plan when it went to the city Historic Architectural Review Commission meeting for final approval last month as ordered by the Circuit Court Judge.

“It’s a dishonest position,” Walsh said after the commission meeting. “The city has been asking us to make it smaller and smaller. Now, it seems their position is that it’s too small.”

Walsh said it is customary for the five Key West restaurants his company Tropical Soup owns to operate on a “commissary system.” For example, he makes key lime pies at one of his restaurants that has a larger baking area, then transports the pies to the other four facilities. Same with making balsamic vinaigrette and a deli meat-spicing operation, which service all five Tropic Soup eateries. In the case of the Mallory Square restaurant, Walsh is planning on doing food prep at his Waterfront Brewery, which has larger storage areas, and transferring the food as needed to Mallory Square, where it will be finished, plated and served.

“It’s far more efficient to make [selected items] at one location,” Walsh said. “Would I like a larger kitchen out there [at Mallory Square]? Heck, yes. But the city wanted it smaller.”

A majority of commissioners appeared to agree with Walsh. But with Commissioner Billy Wardlow absent, the two votes taken on the matter, one to send the plan back to the planning board and the other to begin lease negotiations with Tropical Soup, both tied at 3-3, meaning both motions failed. But it will come back to the commission in mid-July, when Walsh’s appeal of the planning director’s change of opinion will be decided.

“I don’t think it’s fair at all that we would pull the rug out from under Mr. Walsh after he has gone through nine and a half years of pure hell with the city,” said Mayor Teri Johnston. “We litigate and litigate and change the rules and it’s just an embarrassment.”

“This all looks very strange to me. And if for two years this [restaurant design] plan has been in place, then it seems only fair that we do what Mr. Walsh said and sign a lease,” said Commissioner Sam Kaufman.

Scholl said he thought the most recent design he had signed off on was in 2015 – before the last design change with the smaller kitchen – not 2017, but he couldn’t remember exactly. He said not putting in a full-service kitchen would tie the city’s hands in the future if Walsh lost the lease and another restaurant operator wanted to take over.

“That just doesn’t make sense from a landlord and a land value perspective,” he said. “I don’t want it to go forward without a kitchen. If another tenant were to come in at some point in the future, there would be no food option.”

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