SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – The Port of San Francisco is threatening to evict two iconic waterfront businesses because of a lease dispute. Boatworks and the adjacent Ramp Restaurant, which are operated by the same owner, have been in business for 36 years — unpaid rent may bring that run to an end.
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Arvind Patel, owner of Boatworks and the Ramp Restaurant, described his current agreement with the Port as complicated.
"We have one lease with the port which we've had for essentially 16 years and we have two different businesses," he told KCBS Radio.
The Port on March 11 sent Patel a 30-day notice to cure lease default, contending that he owes them $779,151 under the terms of the lease to pay a percentage of gross receipts of both businesses, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Patel, who does not deny the money is owed, wants a partial payment plan while he and the Port negotiate a new deal.
Patel said the rent he pays for the restaurant makes sense. His dispute is with the Boatyard.
"The big shipyard across the cove had received a lease from the port that required 3.3%, whereas we were paying 8.75%," he said.
Boatworks is one of the last remaining shipyards on the Bay. Patel argued that if the Port wants to keep a working boatyard in its portfolio, the current lease isn't feasible because its margins are so small.
"The 8.7% applied to the boatyard revenue is a killer," he explained. "We don't have the money to pay that."
Patel added that he's provided the Port data on the going rates of rent for shipyards.
"We have a study that shows what the rents are for other similar sized boat yards and far less than what we've been paying for the last 33 years," he explained.
When asked by KCBS Radio why the statistics have not resonated with Port officials, Patel sighed and responded, "It's just bureaucracy."
Port officials told the Chronicle that they hope to preserve both businesses, and they are "currently in negotiations" with Patel's group "on a rent relief package as well as lease renewal."
The Port declined KCBS Radio's request for an interview.
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