After its falling out with the Green Lion Cafe earlier this summer, Palm Coast government this week formally launched its next step in possibly replacing the popular restaurant at Palm Harbor Golf Club with a new company. The city issued a request for proposal, seeking bids by Sept. 15 with plans to have the new company operating by Feb. 1.
The arrangement would be a five-year lease with an option to renew for an additional five years. Rent is set at $1,500 a month, or $18,000 a year, with a 3 percent annual increase, not including utilities. With utilities, the monthly cost would be at least $3,000. All other aspects of the operation would presumably remain the same: The RFP calls for a tenant that will operate a restaurant, a full bar and catering services, specifies hours of operation (7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, except some holidays).
But unless the Green Lion files a bid, the brand will change, and with that comes uncertainty that attaches to any new restaurant operation. Success does not necessarily follow signatures. For its part the Green Lion had managed to become Trip Advisor’s top restaurant in Palm Coast, not a minor or easily replicated feat.
The Green Lion declined to comment on the RFP. Once the city decided to sever the lease with the restaurant, it gave it six months’ notice to clear the space. The city is having to pay a year’s rent, or $7,200. It is entirely possible that the Green Lion will file a bid, if only because of its own manager’s and owners’ convincing public testimony over the past many months–and the outpouring of support–that it is a very successful business that would not be undone by the additional costs. Bruised feelings aside, it would be a surprise if the restaurant did not file a bid.
The city and the Green Lion had negotiated a new lease–or concession agreement, as the restaurant preferred to call it–for over a year. The 2017 lease with the Green Lion Cafe gave the restaurant free rent for the first six months, then $500 a month, with all utilities paid by the city. Rent had risen to $600 a month by the time negotiations for a new agreement started last year, but the city was still paying all utilities. The city sought to shift most of those burdens to the restaurant and raise the rent substantially.
The restaurant was wiling to go along, up to a point, and the two sides appeared to be close to a deal. But on two occasions, when the matter went before the City Council, council members intervened with new demands. In one notoriously ugly meeting in February council members threw out the agreement the administration had negotiated and called for a new RFP. Then, after facing a torrent of community support for the restaurant, the council reversed course and let negotiations restart but on different terms. Again, when the two sides appeared close to a deal, the council intervened with new demands, the restaurant’s owners themselves, disbelieving, lost their cool, and the deal collapsed.
In its final offer, the Green Lion was willing to pay $2,100 a month in rent ($25,184 a year) the first year, and pay for internet, phone and natural gas, but the city would have to continue paying for water, sewer and electricity, which would add roughly $1,500 a month according to rough calculations discussed during council meetings. The restaurant appeared willing to add the cost of electricity. The deal fell through when the council sought to have the Green Lion take on the additional $1,000 a month charge for water and sewer service.
The RFP is not a tantalizing document. RFPs rarely are. Its entirety is available for public inspection through the city’s website. Aside from its outline of expected rent, it requires the potential tenant to provide all furnishings. The RFP also sets in stone many of the issues that became contentious between the city and the Green Lion Cafe: the tenant will be responsible for all utilities–propane or natural gas, internet service, phone service, credit card service, electricity, and 50 percent of metered water and sewer service in the building, which is shared property with the city’s pro shop. The tenant will also be responsible for all maintenance and repair of interior equipment.
Again, the city is not asking for any form of profit sharing even after the restaurant earns a certain amount of revenue. Such profit sharing arrangements are common with restaurants that operate on public property. Flagler Beach has such an arrangement with the Funky Pelican, which pays 3 percent of gross sales in excess of $1 million. The Funky Pelican is required to provide a monthly report on gross sales and sales tax receipt records.
Applicants to the Palm Harbor bid will be required to provide two years’ worth of audited financial statements or federal tax returns. “In all cases, the Proposer must provide a balance sheet, an income statement, and a statement of cash flow, or other documents demonstrating that the Proposer has the financial resources necessary to provide the Collection Services contemplated by the City,” the bid documents state.
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Eva says
Shame on the PC Council, bad faith and big egos are so evident! A good business and employer that benefits the city will be lost if you all don’t smarten up. The Green Lion’s offers of compromise were good ones!! Figure it out and lose the egos!!
Looks more and more like we need a new Council altogether. Sad!
Tom Donaghy says
What a bunch of morons and idiots these city commissioners are. I hope they go under and lose everything. They don’t deserve to be representing this community. Talk about being anti-business. Losers!!!
Marty Sorrentino says
Here we go again….attacking an establishment that survived Covid, to now be challenged by greed. How much in concessions do you think the government gives to Wal-Mart or better yet, the new BJ’s planned for PC. It’s always about the big guy vs. the little guy. Governments can’t beat up on big business due to the high price legal firms they employ, or the white envelopes that wind up in pockets of those in control and power. Beating up on the little guy is easy, and it’s a game government and elected, yes ELECTED officials love to play. So you want to push the Green Lion out?……..good luck with that. There’s plenty of empty stores where restaurants use to be. As for the Green Lion and their great employees; don’t give in to the cronies who couldn’t boil an egg. And most importantly, don’t take any of the cra_ they are proposing. Sure we will miss the Green Lion, but the loss will be greater for the morons who run a golf course which one day will most likely be converted into affordable housing. Ask any owner of a golf course in this country….they ain’t making enough money to make it worthwhile.
Chris Conklin says
The facts are that palm coast sucks as does the commission. A successful young man with a family and you screw him. Shame on all of you.
Who cares says
So as in any signed lease, rental agreement, etc whatever was signed to begin with shall be fulfilled. After that the tenant can kick rocks if they don’t accept the OWNERS new numbers. Why this is a big deal is stupid.
Scott Kalb says
From your comment I can see you don’t understand or know of the issue that this story has uncovered. We have a tenant (The Green Lion, owned by the Marlow family) that was not treated fairly in negotiations with Palm Coast and it’s City Council.
It is not a black and white issue. The City negotiates in bad faith by continuing to change the terms for the new lease after each Council meeting that discussed said lease. The City Council flexed it’s muscles with a take it or leave it, kiss my ring mentality that shows that they have big egos and don’t serve their constituency. The community around the golf course and in Palm Coast in general are for the Green Lion. The City Council and the Mayor (minus Nick Klufas) took this issue as something to puff their chest out about to make themselves look better by getting more money for the taxpayers. There was no effort by The Green Lion to rob the taxpayer, there were unfair negotiations and demands by the City that kept moving the goalposts of the new lease. The Green Lion has done an excellent job of taking a small dilapidated space in a triple wide trailer 5 years ago and turned it into a beautiful #1 Trip Advisor restaurant. Both the City and The Green Lion co-operated and made this space and golf course great! The Green Lion put $100,000 into that space as part of the lease. The Marlow family put the bid in for the Green Lion over 5 years at the City’s request, they changed their business plan that would have had them open a restaurant at a different location to open the Green Lion.
Ld says
What does pro shop pay?
Absolutely Ridiculous says
So, if I understand this correctly, The Green Lion would have paid more rent than the City is asking now, picked up
the cost of the internet, phone and natural gas with the city seemingly being agreeable to keeping the electric bill,
until the City decided that The Green Lion also pay the water and sewer, of which the City probably uses more than half.
Who would want to walk into attempting to start a new restaurant there after seeing this debacle.
A damn shame to lose such a great place in Palm Coast…………
MJ says
What for profit restaurant have you ever seen get a city to pay for its utilities and have a far below market management monthly rental? Frankly until this controversy came up, I’ve never see such a situation.
My professional career included daily top restaurant in NYC, CT, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, San Francisco, and LA. Some of my clients owned restaurants in those cities. So, I do have some knowledge of what goes on for restaurant success.
Let me begin by saying I like the food at the Green Lion. It really doesn’t matter if Yelp or Trip Advisor ranks it well. Look at those sites sometime and you’ll see plenty of ridiculous rankings.
What to this day I am puzzled by is how far afield it was to put a restaurant like the Green Lion in a building that should be replaced to accommodate the primary function of the building which was a golf center with pro shop etc. It makes as much sense as putting a Morton’s Steakhouse in the local bowling alley.
The key to success in doing anything is to recognize what function is to be served profitably. Then build the best possible means to have that function operate well. A restaurant which does not create more sales for the course nor for the city is totally misplaced.
I wish the Green Lion future success in a more appropriate location. Its many patrons can drive a couple more blocks to enjoy their offerings.
Marty Sorrentino says
In spite of the golf course the Green Lion is successful. I like many patrons don’t own a set of golf clubs, yet we go to this restaurant for the quality, service and yes a nice view from the porch. Whether the City wants a restaurant or golf related business at this location is their decision. The City was looking for something better than the former “hot dog stand” that was there. The owners of the Green Lion invested a lot of money, time and effort to create a great restaurant. The biggest problem today is when government gets too involved with private enterprises and uses their weight to bully small business. This is what happens when you have City employees with little or no business knowledge AND a lack of common sense that their residents possess.
Skibum says
I can only speak for myself, but let this be known to all who may be considering putting in a bid for the space now occupied by the Green Lion. First, I hope potential businesses are fully aware of how shody and underhanded the city has been in their dealings with the current restaurant owners, so beware because you cannot expect fair and unbiased treatment from the same people who have done such disservice to the Green Lion owners and staff. Secondly, I know there are many others who are extremely upset by the city’s disingenuous and abhorrent way they have been trying to push the current restaurant out, and I say here to whoever might end up taking over as a new restaurant if the Green Lion is forced to close its doors I will NOT be one of your customers. This entire sorry episode has left such a stench in my mouth that I will boycot any other restaurant at that location as long as it is city property, so help me God! So regardless of how good a new restaurant might be, they won’t be seeing me there, sorry. End of story. And just for the record, my name is Dave Gray and I have been a regular, frequent customer of the Green Lion restaurant since the first month that they opened their doors to customers.
jnlocal says
That won’t matter to the Mayor’s crony, who has been lined up for this takeover all along. Watch.
My family has loved The Green Lion restaurant and will miss it a lot.
Many thanks to the current owners who put their souls and money into it.
Terri says
It’s about time The Green Lion paid a fair decent price to occupy that building. No more “Cinderella” deals
Scott Kalb says
It wasn’t a Cinderella deal. The Green Lion put $100,000 into that space. They remodeled the deck, the bar, the dining room and put new equipment that they can’t take with them, as per the current lease. The Green Lion made this space a great restaurant with money, time and effort and then get treated unfairly by Palm Coast City Council who didn’t do any homework on the issue when it was brought up in February of this year…..
Ms P says
I pity anyone else that attempts to open a business in this location. After what this City has done to the owners of The Green Lion I am sure no one will frequent any new business going forward. Treatment of our small business community in this manner is appalling. I for one will never give my business to anyone who leases that space.
Concerned Citizen says
If only our City and County Commissions would stop getting themselves onto Cinderella deals. First the County got tied up in a mess with Captains. Now the City is tied up in a mess with Green Lion.
Stop with the special deals. It only backfires in the end. And then you waste needless time and money dealing with litigation.
ANY business coming into this county should have an equal chance of success. With no special strings attached. Equal footing for all businesses.
Stop getting yourselves into these silly jams. And start focusing on real issues.
Joseph Barand says
I understand the Marlow’s already have plans to open a new restruant, it will be called Next Door and will be next door to the Gollden Lion.. More upscale with a menu similiat to what they had at the golf course.