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Blue Parrot hangout in jeopardy

The bar will be cut off if builders buying the land get Corey Circle.

By CRISTINA SILVA
Published October 25, 2006

It is one of the few places that has not been taken over by hordes of sunburned tourists.

On most days, Frank Theisen, owner of the Blue Parrot restaurant and bar, can name the dozens of regulars who sit around his bar, engrossed in a sports game on television and the Bud Light in their hands.

But Theisen fears the days of his cozy waterfront shack at the end of Corey Avenue are numbered.

A group of Detroit-based developers have a contract to buy the property where his bar sits and want to use the space to build a marina. The only road to his bar will probably be closed by the city and given to the developers.

Corey Landings Development LLC has been in talks with the city to build a waterfront commercial and residential center along Boca Ciega Bay for nearly two years. Featuring shops, a hotel, a condominium and a pedestrian area along the water, the center is a city planner's dream.

Corey Landings also wants the city to shut down Corey Circle, a small road in front of the Blue Parrot's parking lot, to increase its land density.

If the development group is allowed to vacate Corey Circle, traffic in the area would still be allowed on Corey Avenue, said Karl Holley, director of community development for the city. But you can only get to the Blue Parrot through Corey Circle.

Tucked away behind City Hall and encircled by Boca Ciega Bay and rows of abandoned buildings, Corey Circle is not much to look at, but it is all Theisen has.

Theisen, who has a 15-year lease, says he was offered $1-million about a year ago by Corey Landings to get out. His customers asked him to turn it down because there were so few bars in the area that catered to locals. Theisen also thought he could end up making more money if the Corey Landings project was ever built. Surely, he thought, the condominium residents and visitors to the new shops would make good customers.

Then his landlord sold the property to Corey Landings. And Corey Landings asked the city to consider closing down Corey Circle.

Now, he isn't sure what the future will hold.

Legally, his lease means he can stay, but if the road is closed and his customers are shut out, he wonders how he can stay open.

"I desperately want to see this area be developed," he said. "Think about it. I own a restaurant in the middle of a jungle."

Holley said there isn't anything the city can do for Theisen.

"The question of how the developer proceeds with terminating the lease of that business is a private matter," he said. "The city doesn't have anything to do with that."

Linda Swanson, co-owner of Charlie's Transmissions Inc., a repair shop between Corey Circle and Corey Avenue, told city officials it was illegal to give Corey Circle to a development group and has threatened to take legal action if the road is vacated. The city attorney says it is legal.

Either way, the lawsuit is Theisen's last hope. Perhaps, he thinks, it will keep Corey Circle, and his business, alive.

Cristina Silva can be reached at (727) 893-8846 or csilva@sptimes.com.

[Last modified October 25, 2006, 16:13:50]