VENICE — Even after some cost cutting, Sarasota County is $1.75 million short of the estimated price of renovating Snook Haven.
County commissioners likely will expect the next concessionaire to help make up the deficit.
The design is at the 60% stage, Parks, Recreation & Natural Resources Director Nicole Rissler told the County Commission at a budget workshop Wednesday. It calls for replacing the existing restaurant with a smaller, concession-style building that includes an open-air dining pavilion, as well as a band shell.
Two other buildings would be demolished, a third would be renovated and converted to storage and a fourth would be remodeled as an outfitters office for kayak rentals, she said.
Staff has spent a lot of time trying to reduce the estimated cost of the project, which had ballooned to $11 million at the 30% design stage, she said.
Prior to the commencement of design work, it was estimated to be $4.5 million-$5 million.
Value engineering has brought it down to $9 million, Rissler said.
The $2 million reduction didn’t temper the commissioners’ reaction to the fact the cost was still about double where it had started.
Someone could build a “world-class” home on Siesta Key Beach for $9 million and “we’re getting a concession stand,” Commissioner Neil Rainford said.
Of the $9 million estimate, $7.25 million is covered by park impact fees, sales surtax revenue, tourist development tax money and a West Coast Inland Navigation District grant, Rissler said.
That’s not enough for the demolition of existing buildings and the construction of the concession and pavilion, she added.
She said she’s working with county procurement staff on a request for proposals under which applicants would agree to pay a base rent and a percentage of gross sales and to outfit the kitchen with any equipment that doesn’t need to be built in. That cost is estimated at $250,000.
How much of an additional investment might be expected from the next Snook Haven concessionaire has yet to be determined.
Rissler said the state gets a capital outlay from its concessionaires, but it grants longer leases than the county does.
The county’s standard concession lease is for three years with two one-year extensions. The county attorney will need to weigh in on options for a lengthier lease, she said.
Five years isn’t long enough for a concessionaire to recoup its investment, said Justin Pachota, president of Venice Pier Group Inc., the current concessionaire. Whoever gets the contract will expect a longer lease term, he said.
VPG, which also operates Sharky’s On The Pier and Fins at Sharky’s in Venice as well as Siesta Beach Eats, recently got City Council approval of an additional two five-year extensions of its lease at the Venice Fishing Pier in exchange for a $2.5 million planned renovation. The restaurant properties revert to city ownership on the expiration of the lease.
VPG’s lease with Venice requires a percentage of the gross, and the total payment to the city in each of the last two years has been more than $1 million.
It’s only paying base rent under a one-year extension of its lease at Snook Haven, though it also paid a percentage under the original lease, Pachota said. Rissler said the county had collected about $150,000 over the term of the lease.
“We anticipate that will be significantly larger after we build this new facility,” she said.
Snook Haven does a much lower volume of business due to parking constraints and seasonality than VPG’s other restaurants, Pachota said.
“It’s a great property,” he said. “But not as profitable as we would have hoped.”
And business has been down for the last year and a half due to construction on River Road, he said.
Some commissioners had a different impression of Snook Haven’s post-renovation potential, however.
“This is a gold mine,” Commissioner Mark Smith said. “It’s got all the things you need to make a killing.”
A concessionaire’s investment would pay for itself, Commissioner Ron Cutsinger said.
He and Smith wanted to keep moving forward, at least for now, but two of their colleagues were somewhat more hesitant.
Commissioner Joe Neunder said he doesn’t like long leases because they inhibit competition. He favored significantly higher rent.
Rainford was amenable to a longer lease term, but only if the future concessionaire agreed to build out the facility.
After getting some reassurance from Rissler that there’s no additional expense in putting the project out to bid, and County Administrator Jonathan Lewis advising that there are “jump-off spots” in the future if they have second thoughts, commissioners eventually gave Rissler the OK to continue on the current path of the project.
But Neunder warned that it will be under strict scrutiny as the budget is developed.
Pachota said he hopes that whoever gets the concession contract “takes care of that natural resource.”
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