Boathouse restaurant fighting to stay afloat
Just three days before the 50-year-old Boathouse restaurant is set to close permanently, its owner is scheduled to appear in court today to ask a judge to keep her longtime business open.
In a last ditch effort, Naia Sheffield will go before Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Diana Wheatley, who torpedoed Sheffield’s ship last week when she ruled the restaurant must get out by Sunday because its lease was terminated by the Pier Restoration Corporation.
The PRC took the controversial action to make way for the movie-themed chain-restaurant, Bubba Gump.
Wheatley also ruled that the Boathouse owes the city $25,000 in back rent, which the city earlier refused to accept, plus attorney fees.
Sheffield said Thursday that she’ll appeal Wheatley’s decision and ask that a stay be granted on the restaurant’s eviction.
Sheffield hopes Wheatley will review new arguments in a case that has pit the longtime business owner against the city for years. Wheatley was handed the case — which is several hundred pages thick — late last year. The judge originally assigned to it retired.
“Hopefully she’ll review all of (the arguments),” Sheffield said, adding that years of litigation may have been too much information for Wheatley to digest. She also said her attorney will get another chance to argue the complex issue.
Sheffield and her attorney, Kelly Bixby, have argued that the PRC offered the Boathouse a long-term lease more than three years ago then improperly refused to sign it. It decided to offer her a month-to-month lease only. Then last summer, after it had signed a lease with Bubba Gump instead, Sheffield says, the PRC gave her the boot, effective last fall.
But Sheffield’s Boathouse didn’t budge, which prompted the city to file a lawsuit seeking to kick it out.
Sheffield had filed a lawsuit of her own in U.S. District Court claiming breach of contract, violation of her right to due process, and unlawful takings. She also claimed that the PRC violated the state’s open meetings law and that the city intentionally misrepresented the lease agreement.
A federal judge dismissed the suit ear-lier this month.
Boathouse representatives say the restaurant attempted to pay the city its monthly rent, but the city sent the checks back. City officials say they didn’t accept the rent checks because the Boathouse, which sits on city-owned land, no longer had a lease.
The PRC voted this past summer to make a deal with Bubba Gump after it considered several proposals — including one by the Boathouse — to occupy the 4,500-square-foot building located on the beach.
The chain restaurant is expected to open next spring after it renovates the building.
The PRC has attracted controversy over the irregular terms of some of its members, who appeared unprepared to step down. Some of them have been serving on the board since the mid 1980s.
Bixby tried to compromise on Monday by offering a settlement with the Santa Monica City Council. He asked that the Boathouse remain open for business until Bubba Gump is ready to move in, which could be as late as the end of the summer. As part of the proposed settlement, Sheffield would accommodate Bubba Gump any access it needs and would move out on five days notice.
But the city shot down the proposal during a closed meeting Tuesday. City deputy attorney Tony Serritella said he couldn’t comment on why the city declined Sheffield’s offer.
The decision has Bixby and Sheffield wondering why the city would want to keep a building empty on the busy pier during the summer season. They noted that one restaurant there is closed for renovation and another is high-priced, making it inaccessible to many visitors. Closing the Boathouse would leave only one restaurant available to most visitors, Bixby said.
“It just doesn’t make sense that Santa Monica’s pier will not have food service for a long period of time,” Bixby said. “It’s already tourist season so why would they want to have an empty shell of a building?”
“It’s already tourist season so why would they want to have an empty shell of a building?” — — KELLY BIXBY Attorney
“We haven’t asked for anything that wouldn’t help the city and its people.”
Sheffield said the city could collect rent from her when it would otherwise have no revenue coming in from the property.
“I was trying to give them an out,” she said. “I don’t understand why the city wouldn’t want to have a restaurant open for the summer.” Parents concerned about moldy classroom conditions
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 29, 2002. Read the original PDF.