In their proposal to run a lucrative beach concession, the pair misstated how their earnings would be split with the city. A fellow bidder objects.
By JENNIFER FARRELL
Published June 3, 2004
CLEARWATER - Ken and Wade Hamilton already had what could be seen as powerful advantages when they applied last week to run the city's lucrative South Beach Pavilion.
Their father, Howard, has leased the property since it was built in 1969, and the brothers have helped with the beach concession since they were kids. For much of the last decade, Wade has run the business himself.
Also, their brother, Hoyt, sits on the City Council, last year as vice mayor.
But the Hamiltons goofed on the numbers in their proposal to win a new three-year lease, starting July 1. And now the city is trying to figure out whether to let them change their offer before the City Council makes its selection in two weeks.
Wednesday, at least one other bidder said the city should make the Hamiltons stand by their original offer, or let everyone else make revisions, too
"He shouldn't be allowed to change anything," said Michael Frangedis, owner of Flipperz Beach Shop and Licks Ice Cream. "You snooze, you lose. That's it."
South Beach Pavilion, on the west side of S Gulfview Boulevard, includes two separate concessions: one for food and retail, and another for beach chairs, umbrellas and cabanas.
In their proposal, the Hamiltons offered to pay the city $7,500 per month for food and retail and $1,000 per month for the beach rentals. They also offered 15 percent of gross for revenues of $75,000 to $100,000 and 30 percent of gross for revenues greater than $150,000.
Reached Wednesday at the Palm Pavilion, another of his family businesses, Ken Hamilton said the gross revenue percentages were meant to apply only to the beach rentals, not the entire operation.
"Oh, s---," he said, upon reviewing his proposal, then added, "We can't do it at that. We'll lose our shirt."
In his proposal, with business partner Nick Votzakis, Frangedis offered to pay the city a base rent of $8,083.33, up $1,000 from the existing lease with Howard Hamilton. Frangedis and Votzakis also offered 10 percent of revenues over $700,000 at the food and retail concession. For the beach rental, they proposed paying $716 per month plus 10 percent of revenues exceeding $45,000.
Another team led by Dan Waters and Laura Flowers proposed no change in monthly rents, $7,083.33 and $716, respectively, for the food and rental concessions. But they offered to reimburse the city on a sliding scale for gross receipts, starting with 10 percent between $500,000 and $750,000 and rising to 25 percent of revenues totaling more than $1.5-million.
On Monday, all three groups will get the chance to make their case during public presentations scheduled at 8 a.m. in the city's marina conference room.
City Attorney Pam Akin said the city's legal staff is reviewing whether the Hamiltons will be allowed to tweak their offer.
On May 10 the city issued a "Request For Proposals" to operate the concession, with responses due May 28. Normally, Clearwater allows 30 days' response time, but in this case, the window was unusually short, drawing criticism from business owners and the Clearwater Beach Chamber of Commerce.
The request was advertised in the Tampa Tribune on May 16.
City Manager Bill Horne said the city had hoped to have finalized most of the plans for Beach Walk, a curvy redesign of S Gulfview Boulevard, by now. But as that project lagged, the expiration of the South Beach Pavilion contract loomed on June 30.
Rather than close the concession, Horne said the city opted to trim the response time.
"We just came up short," he said. "Our timing was off."
The City Council is expected to make its final selection on June 17. Councilman Hoyt Hamilton has said he will abstain from discussing and voting on the issue.
