Application seeks Moore rezoning

Moore’s Stone Crab Restaurant owners want to redevelop with restaurateurs Mark Caragiulo and Tom Leonard as investors.

And, while Caragiulo and Leonard are interested in the prospect, Caragiulo says whether they actually proceed depends on a number of factors.

“It’s contingent on rezoning and where we fall regarding FEMA regulations,” Caragiulo said. “Maybe it’s a 60% probability we’ll move forward.”

Moore’s co-owner Alan Moore filed three applications to redevelop his family’s 47-year-old restaurant Nov. 25, with the Longboat Key Planning Zoning and Building Department.

Moore declined to comment about plans to the Longboat Observer.

“I really don’t want it to be out there any more than it already is in the press,” he said.

Caragiulo said if preliminary plans move forward, “Our goal is to build a really cool, iconic restaurant on the peninsula — something that’s indigenous and fits with the area.” He believes the restaurant needs to be updated with a new architectural plan that could possibly have influences from the Sarasota School of Architecture.

The materials Moore submitted to the town include a request to revert the zoning of the property at 800 Broadway to its original commercial zoning.

The property has been zoned residential since 2010, when the Longboat Key Town Commission granted a request from Alan Moore to rezone the property from commercial to residential to allow the restaurant to continue operating while allowing owners a sound financial exit strategy in case the business became unviable. Moore told the commission at the time that without the rezoning, he could not renegotiate double-digit-interest-rate loans that were due.

But, according to application materials, reverting the property to its original classification will protect the investment of the Caragiulo and Leonard.

“In order to protect the investment in the event of a disaster such as a fire, the investors need to be assured that they can rebuild,” the application states.

At the time the restaurant sought the rezoning, Moore’s agent, land-use consultant Peter Dailey, said residential land had a higher value than commercial end on the north end. The zoning change helped the restaurant obtain the financing it needed to continue operating.

“He made a commitment to keep it as a restaurant as long as he could,” Dailey said.

Caragiulo said Leonard first suggested talking with Moore and his brother, Paul, a few months ago. The Longboat Observer was unable to reach Leonard for comment.

Caragiulo said current plans are to rehabilitate the existing structure. However, a new structure is a possibility if rehabilitation would prove too costly.

Moore met with Village residents Nov. 17, according to the rezoning application.

According to the minutes of that meeting included in the application, Moore’s does not seek to raise the building height unless the increase is required to meet FEMA’s minimum flood elevation.

Moore’s, which currently has 185 seats, does not seek to increase seating.

PZB Director Alaina Ray said town staff is in the process of reviewing plans and making its written evaluation, which is typically a three-week process. A Development Review Committee meeting to discuss the application has been preliminarily scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Dec. 17. DRC meetings are open to the public, but public comment is not permitted.

Ray anticipates the application could go before the Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Board in February, followed by the commission in March.

Caragiulo said he is interested in the project because waterfront restaurants in the area have become increasingly rare.

“It’s getting sad,” he said. “Longboat could virtually become a condo destination. To build or rebuild a new version of something iconic on the waterfront is exciting to me.”

Caragiulo and his family own Caragiulos Italian Restaurant in Sarasota; he is also a partner in The Shore Diner on St. Armands Circle with Leonard and Nancy’s BBQ and Owen’s Fish Camp, in mainland Sarasota.

Moore’s was founded in 1967 with 10 tables by brothers Pete and Hughy Moore. Alan and Paul Moore started working at the restaurant that year, when they were 8 and 9, respectively, as did Robert Hicks, then 12, who now co-owns the restaurant with the Moore brothers.

Mar Vista: Take five
The Chiles Restaurant Group will go before the Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Board at 9 a.m. Dec. 17, for a public hearing on its latest application to redevelop Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub. It’s the fifth application owner Ed Chiles has filed since 2010 to redevelop the restaurant.

The application is virtually identical to Chiles’ original 2010 request to build a second-story tree house with dining on the second level that would add 11 seats to the restaurant. It does not include a plan to renovate the historic Rufus P. Jordan House that drew opposition from Village residents in 2013.