- December 5, 2025
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Having suffered significant damage from last season’s tropical turmoil, the leaseholder operating the marina in the city-owned Ken Thompson Park on City Island is seeking a 25-year extension to its current agreement that expires in 12 years.
Saddled by long-term leases of city property in the past, though, the Sarasota City Commission didn’t feel the MarineMax proposal held water, and at its July 7 meeting unanimously voted to instruct staff to enter into negotiations for a more traditional lease, and one that extends 25 years from 2025 rather than from 2037.
MarineMax, which manages some 110 locations and 68 marinas, was seeking the extension in exchange for investing $11 million in repairs, renovations and additions to the marina it has operated since 1996. Its current 25-year lease commenced on Feb. 28, 2014 and expires on Dec. 31, 2037.
Represented by Bill Galvano of the Bradenton law firm of Grimes Hawkins Gladfelter & Galvano, MarineMax suffered considerable destruction from the storms and requires essential repairs and replacement of facilities for the general purpose of operating a marina as well as related sales and a subleased restaurant building on the property occupied by The Old Salty Dog.
Of the estimated cost, approximately $5.8 million will address public infrastructure replacement — the seawall and bulkhead — and the remaining $5.2 million would replace the private businesses infrastructure including the sales office and boat racks. In addition, MarineMax is asking for a rent credit applied to each year to reimburse $5 million of the seawall and bulkhead cost.
Under the current lease, the base rent adjusts annually based off the consumer price index with a minimum of 2% and maximum of 4%. During the prior three years, that escalator has increased at the maximum rate.
For 2025:
Rent credits are granted on the same CPI-based escalator to help MarineMax offset capital investment in the city-owned property.
One point of discussion among commissioners was that gray area that exists in all agreements the city makes with regard to special considerations — public benefit — as they grilled MarineMax Vice President of Real Estate Sam Lowrey about accessibility of temporary docking by the public, services such as fueling and boat maintenance available to non-boat storing customers and more.
MarineMax says it will meet its public benefit obligations “by maintaining a full-service marina and sales facility to enhance public access to recreational boating and waterfront amenities as existed prior to the hurricanes.”
Other public benefits provided by MarineMax since 2014 cited by Galvano include:
“Right now, they still have 12 years left,” Galvano said. “Milton came along. Helene came along. I don't need to tell you what occurred there. And so they have a decision to make. They immediately put $1.7 million into recovery efforts, and now they're at a crossroads. Do we just get things repaired and live out 12 years or do we invest $11 million more into this property? A 25-year extension will give them that financial security, and what they will create there is even better than what has been there, and will bring the property up to the highest level of resilience.”
Wayne Appleby, the city’s manager of economic development, said common lease extension practice is to re-open the lease, the option city commissioners unanimously preferred. That process includes an updated fair market appraisal of the lease value, which had not been done since the 2014 benchmark on which annual rent and rent credit increases tied to the 2-4% annual escalator are based.
“Everything is up, especially since the last appraisal,” Appleby said of fair market value. “Since 2020, everything has gone up substantially, so as you use a CPI escalator, you don't always keep up with that that market. … So I think it's why you would have a standard practice, if you're going to renew a lease or you reopen a lease, that you do an appraisal.”
Mayor Liz Alpert, who did not preside over the meeting because of her remote participation, made the unanimously approved motion to reopen the lease, authorize a fair market appraisal and negotiate terms based on a 25-year extension beginning this year.
“I think it's important for us to move toward having a more standard lease term,” said Vice Mayor Debbie Trice. “if we've got a commercial lease with a commercial tenant, let's do what everybody else does in terms of the various terms and conditions.”
