Negotiations for Ventura Pier Restaurant Fail

Diners may have to wait as long as two years to enjoy a meal on the newly refurbished Ventura Pier, city officials said Tuesday, as negotiations between the city and a Seattle-based restaurateur have broken down.

And before Ventura can hope to entice an attractive investor to the site, residents may have to amend the City Charter to allow the council more flexibility in negotiating leases on the property, city officials said.

The breakdown in negotiations marks the latest twist in a saga that began nearly two years ago, when Ventura started a $3.5-million face-lift on the pier. While construction workers rebuilt the aging, sagging structure, city officials launched an ambitious search for restaurants to anchor the pier.

More than 80 investors received invitations from Ventura to consider building at the pier. Only four parties submitted proposals.

Citing the poor economy, city planners shrugged their shoulders and set to work last fall evaluating the quartet. In March, council members chose Hal Griffith, the owner of a chain of nautically themed restaurants called The Fisherman’s Galley. Early in April, the two sides started negotiating.

Had negotiations succeeded, Griffith was to open his newest restaurant in the summer of 1995. But a couple sticking points became clear early on, city officials said.

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First, Ventura officials are bound by some tough restrictions: Under the city’s charter, Ventura cannot lease space for more than 10 years at a time. When the 10 years are up, the renter must vie again with other competitors for the privilege of running a business on the site.

“Typically, you don’t do major investments in restaurants for 10 years,” said Terry Adelman, Ventura’s director of management resources, who has overseen the bidding process. “Typical leases are 40 to 50 years. It’s a really awkward situation.”

Second, Griffith wanted the city to build the restaurant’s shell and enter into a partnership with him on the restaurant, assuming half the financial responsibility if the venture failed.

“I don’t think we should be in the restaurant business,” said Councilwoman Rosa Lee Measures, who agreed with other council members that this would be an unacceptable condition.

Griffith could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Council members formally declared the negotiations dead on June 6 and began casting about for a new direction, keeping, they said, certain lessons in mind.

For one thing, they considered trying to change the charter restriction. Concerned that the restriction will prevent other investors from bidding on the pier site, council members will vote this summer on whether to place a measure on the November ballot to amend the City Charter.

The ballot measure would either allow the city to sign a longer lease, between 20 and 50 years in length, or it would leave the whole question up to the discretion of the council, Adelman said.

Additionally, some council members say, they realize that with the economy still stumbling along, the city may have to share some costs with the developer.

“It appears as though we are going to need to consider some kind of a partnership,” Measures said. “Obviously, we need to build the shell and perhaps we need to share in financing the tenant improvements.”

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Hearing of the fallout with Griffith, at least one local restaurant owner has reapplied to the city in hopes of snagging the pier site for himself.

“I think it’s the best location in Ventura,” said Eric Wachter, owner of the Eric Ericsson’s Fish Co. restaurant on Seaward Avenue. “I’ve been here in Ventura almost 15 years, and I think I’m a natural to do it.”

City officials have invited Wachter to a meeting of the council’s economic committee today to discuss his idea. If the city chose immediately to go with Wachter, it is possible a pier restaurant might still open next summer, Adelman said.

However, the council could decide to begin anew a full-fledged search for development proposals, this time with a more generous and flexible description of what Ventura can offer a restaurateur. That process would mean the restaurant probably would not be ready for business before the summer of 1996, Adelman said.

Either way, potential investors are expected to closely study any proposal to sink millions into the Ventura restaurant market.

“It’s a difficult marketplace,” said Sandy Smith, owner of Ventura’s Rosarita Beach Cafe and a member of the city’s Planning Commission. “The economy still has not recovered. It’s a tough time to be thinking about starting a new restaurant.”