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City demands more rent from Fish House owners
Attorneys for the City of Pensacola claim Collier Merrill, co-owner of the popular downtown Fish House and Atlas Oyster House restaurants, has been defaulted on his sublease of land under those properties for more than a decade.
Merrill, notified of the city’s claim in a certified letter last week, told the News Journal that the city’s lawyers had misinterpreted his rental agreement. He added the amount at stake in the dispute could total more than $5 million in overdue rent.
“We have always paid what the lease agreement calls for,” said Merrill. He added, “I’m not worried. The attorneys I have talked to think we’re on solid ground.”
The ground on which the two restaurants are built, called the Pitt Slip Marina, is the focus of the city’s claim. Now the city is claiming that the roughly $40,000 a year it has been collecting in rent for the land is a fraction of the amount that should have been paid annually.
Instead, the city is entitled to 5 percent of the Fish House’s gross sales, according to the letter to Merrill Land LLC signed by J. Nixon Daniel, a managing partner in the Pensacola law firm of Beggs & Lane.
“There is a debate about whether they owe us these monies,” said Pensacola City Administrator Colleen Castille in an interview.
Daniel’s letter could be essentially a starting point in negotiations on the exact amount that city officials will ultimately seek from Merrill.
“What we really don’t want to do is put the Fish House out of business,” said Castille.
What’s more, she said, the city plans to pursue what it considers inadequate, or in some cases, late lease payments from several other downtown businesses.
The rent dispute has been brewing for years. In 2008, Pam Childers, who is Escambia County Clerk of Court and was then an accountant for the city, wrote an internal memo to other municipal officials stating that terms of the lease should be re-examined when it comes up for renewal. She asserted, “Otherwise, we’re in this for a long time and they have a sweetheart deal.”
Merrill asserted last week that the jobs and overall economic impact of the restaurants are essential to downtown Pensacola. He added, “We took the risk, made the investment and pay the city a lot of taxes.
Attorneys for the City of Pensacola claim Collier Merrill, co-owner of the popular downtown Fish House and Atlas Oyster House restaurants, has been defaulted on his sublease of land under those properties for more than a decade.
Merrill, notified of the city’s claim in a certified letter last week, told the News Journal that the city’s lawyers had misinterpreted his rental agreement. He added the amount at stake in the dispute could total more than $5 million in overdue rent.
“We have always paid what the lease agreement calls for,” said Merrill. He added, “I’m not worried. The attorneys I have talked to think we’re on solid ground.”
The ground on which the two restaurants are built, called the Pitt Slip Marina, is the focus of the city’s claim. Now the city is claiming that the roughly $40,000 a year it has been collecting in rent for the land is a fraction of the amount that should have been paid annually.
Instead, the city is entitled to 5 percent of the Fish House’s gross sales, according to the letter to Merrill Land LLC signed by J. Nixon Daniel, a managing partner in the Pensacola law firm of Beggs & Lane.
“There is a debate about whether they owe us these monies,” said Pensacola City Administrator Colleen Castille in an interview.
Daniel’s letter could be essentially a starting point in negotiations on the exact amount that city officials will ultimately seek from Merrill.
“What we really don’t want to do is put the Fish House out of business,” said Castille.
What’s more, she said, the city plans to pursue what it considers inadequate, or in some cases, late lease payments from several other downtown businesses.
The rent dispute has been brewing for years. In 2008, Pam Childers, who is Escambia County Clerk of Court and was then an accountant for the city, wrote an internal memo to other municipal officials stating that terms of the lease should be re-examined when it comes up for renewal. She asserted, “Otherwise, we’re in this for a long time and they have a sweetheart deal.”
Merrill asserted last week that the jobs and overall economic impact of the restaurants are essential to downtown Pensacola. He added, “We took the risk, made the investment and pay the city a lot of taxes.
