Sarasota County’s $18M Stickney Point purchase hits snag

Sarasota County officials are working with the sellers of the Stickney Point Boatyard property to address issues that came up with the title to the property that could, potentially, derail the controversial deal.

According to a Sept. 14 memo sent to Sarasota County Administrator Jonathan Lewis, during the due diligence process staff found problems with the title to the property — including unresolved easements issues with a neighboring association and along Little Sarasota Bay.

The memo, frm Shawn Yeager, the county's director of parks, recreation and natural resources, said over the past few months efforts have been made to fix the problems, but they have yet to be resolved.

Sarasota County commissioners in February approved the $18.1 million purchase of the 2.04-acre commercial site made up of 21 parcels on the mainland side of the Stickney Point Bridge to Siesta Key known as the Boatyard.

The seller is Big Main Street LLC, which is registered to Sarasota property investor and restaurant owner Chris Brown.

The county attorney’s office sent a notice of default to Big Main Sept. 14, the same day as the memo was written, stating “it is certainly not the county’s desire to terminate the contract” and that if a written agreement to fix the problems was put in place within 10 days, county staff would support offering an extension.

“However,” the memo to the county administrator said, “if a written agreement is not executed, staff recommends terminating the contract.”

That sentiment was also shared in the default letter.

Neither Lewis nor Yeager responded to a request for comment last week or Monday. (Yeager had an out-of-office message on Monday saying he would return Oct. 5.)

A county spokesperson did respond, saying in an email Monday that “staff and the office of the county attorney are working collaboratively with the seller on the current title defects.

“No additional action has been taken by the county at this time.”

The county spokesperson did not respond to a follow up question about the length of the extension.

Reached by text Monday, Brown, who the default letter was sent in care of, said he was out of town and “dealing with very spotty cell service.” He asked for a copy of the memo to be emailed to him and wrote in response that like all large transactions, this one “can sometimes seem complicated.” But he downplayed the concerns.

“The county and the attorneys are working diligently finding solutions to satisfy any of the title company's questions or concerns,” he wrote in a response email to the Business Observer.

“As much property as the county has acquired and the amount of transactions they have completed over the years, these are relatively minor issues. They have certainly handled more complicated deals than this one.”

The first of the title problems holding up the transaction, according to the memo, deals with the rights of the neighboring Boatyard Condominium Association to use and maintain water, sewer, drainage, utility and lift-station infrastructure located on the property.

The issue came up in May and at that time the county gave Big Main and Brown 15 days to fix the issues. A 30-day extension was then granted and that was extended until Aug. 8.

During that time, the county attorney’s office worked with the sellers, their attorneys and the condominium association, according to the memo. While a solution wasn’t finalized, “substantial progress toward resolving the access and utility issues” has been made.

County officials are also working to resolve a canal easement that impedes the western parcel directly on Little Sarasota Bay.

The county has been in talks with the West Coast Inland Navigation District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about the issues. The Army Corps, however, is “not willing or able” to quash or release the easement, offering two options instead, according to the memo.

The first is for the county to submit an application requesting the Army Corps “dispose or exchange the right of way easement.” But that “could take up to five years to approve, require payment equal to fair market value of parcel, or be denied.”

The second option is for the county to ask the Army Corps to approve the use of temporary structures including docks and picnic shelters.

The county, when it agreed to make the purchase, said potential improvements to the property, which is now made up of commercial condominiums, could include picnic areas, shade structures, restrooms, canoe and kayak launches, 30 to 40 boat slips, fishing access and room for mobile vendors.

That approval process is estimated to take one to two years.

Complicating matters is that the attorney with the Army Corps has told county officials that existing structures are “unpermitted and unauthorized encroachments.”

“Unfortunately,” according to the memo, “the sellers have taken up the position that the specific right of way easement interest” that’s been identified “does not constitute a title defect subject to any seller cure obligation.”

Instead, according to the memo, Big Main and Brown have said the county should take up the issues after the closing as “a future routine development or matter.”

“Like all fairly large real estate transactions, there are a lot of moving parts,” Brown wrote Monday.

He added: "There is nothing in all of those moving parts, or any of those overlapping access agreements that is insurmountable.”