Popular Dockside restaurant in Marathon closes
A popular waterfront bar and restaurant in Marathon shut down Monday, leaving behind empty tables and vacant stage.
Dockside Tropical Café owners Eric Stone and Kim Hess-Stone posted a print out of the 35 Sombrero Blvd. restaurant listed on www.Craigslist.com for $1 on the front door.
“What we didn’t know at the time is that they had placed an ad on Craigslist on March 1, listing Dockside for sale or lease using photos taken from our Facebook page,” Stone and Hess-Stone posted on www.docksidetropicalcafe.com. “This in our opinion is very deceptive and unethical business practice.”
Stone declined to comment on the closing, redirecting the Keynoter to the website.
According to the Dockside website, Stone and Hess-Stone signed a two-year lease and a purchase agreement May 2013, with a closing date of August 31 last year.
The total assessed value of the property is listed at $298,018 for 2015 according to the Monroe County Property Assessor’s website www.mcpafl.org.
Property owner Brian Sweeny said Stone and Hess-Stone paid 10 percent of the purchasing price for Dockside per the original agreement. The two-year agreement had an option for a third year if Stone and Hess-Stone could pay another 10 percent. The third year included an increase in rent price, Sweeny said.
Sweeny said the two couldn’t pay the additional 10 percent so both parties agreed on month-to-month rent.
Sweeny said the two couldn’t keep up with the rent however, ultimately leading Stone Hess-Stone to walk away.
“The rent increase was part of the contract,” said Sweeny, who did not disclose what he charged per month. “They were very late on the rent, paying for February in March. They wanted no down payment and no extra rent. Basically, they wanted a totally different deal than what was agreed upon.”
Stone and Hess-Stone claim Sweeny added “several outrageous provisions” as they were getting closer to securing a loan from HomeBanc in Mid March. They say Sweeny tacked on approximately $20,000 more than the original purchase price. The original agreement price was not disclosed on the Dockside website.
“After a speaking with our main investors this past week, the decision was made to close immediately as there is no future at the current location without owning the property, despite the tremendous growth we have seen in just over two years’ time,” Stone and Hess-Stone wrote online. “This has been one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make, and led to many sleepless nights, thinking about the dream we had, the employees losing their jobs and the smiles and laughter of those that loved what we had done with our own unique branding.”
Stone and Hess-Stone have a www.fundable.com/dockside website that raised $64,095 from 199 backers. The money was collected during the summer of 2013.
This story was originally published April 1, 2016 at 4:51 PM with the headline "Popular Dockside restaurant in Marathon closes."