Benny’s on the Beach seeking $57,000 rent waiver from Lake Worth Beach
Popular restaurant will be closed two months for renovations
BENNY’S ON THE BEACH is planning about $400,000 in renovations to its Oceanwalk restaurant at the Lake Worth Beach Casino complex, work that will close the restaurant from Labor Day until mid to late October, interim City Manager Jamie Brown said.
The restaurant is asking city officials to waive two months of Oceanwalk’s lease payments, roughly $57,000, “since they will be closed and have no revenue coming in,’’ he said.
When Brown mentioned the rent-waiver request at a pre-agenda work session June 27, a majority of city commissioners voiced support for approving it.
“Benny’s brings so much. They're like our big attraction. I would allow that to happen as a courtesy,’’ Mayor Betty Resch said.
“This business is a good city partner,’’ said Vice Mayor Sarah Malega. “They have a good track record. I think that’s a good return on investment.’’
Commissioner Mimi May said she would support the request if it’s limited to a specific timeframe. “For example, if we agree we’ll waive two months but the project takes three, we’re not going to waive the third month,’’ she said.
Commissioner Chris McVoy indicated he would vote against the request when it’s formally presented to the commission later this summer.
“I’m not comfortable with that out of fairness to the other tenants of the building,’’ he said. “The argument that there's a good return on investment; there’s not. They have a contract to pay us rent. There’s no increase to us. There’s a loss to us.’’
The Benny’s Oceanwalk renovations include replacing three air-conditioning systems, extensive ceiling work and other projects, with a goal to re-open in time for the tourist season, Brown said
In an email July 1 , a day after this story was published, Benny’s on the Beach spokesperson Carli Brinkman said the restaurant was not asking for a special handout.
Roughly $300,000 in work will directly improve the city-owned casino building, she said, adding that Benny’s agreed to pay for the work up front to avoid a lengthy city bidding process and resolve air conditioning issues as soon as possible.
“These funds vastly out measure the rent abatement request and provide significant and much-needed improvements to this historic building,’’ she said.
“We had to hire an engineer to do a study to understand why the building cannot hold A/C, which led us to discover that there is a structural issue in the building that requires us to move and replace multiple AC units and add an 8-ton AC unit as well in order to reverse the negative pressure in the space,’’ she said.
Benny’s also will replace the kitchen hood system.
“Of course, it benefits us to expedite this process, so we are attempting to be good community partners by paying for all of these capital improvements within our full renovation, relieving the city of a lengthy bidding process and city residents of an additional tax burden.’’
The work is confined to the Oceanwalk restaurant at the Casino and will not affect the main Benny’s on the Beach at the Lake Worth Pier, a popular destination since 1986.
(This story was updated at 12:10 p.m. on July 1 to include comments from Benny's on the Beach.)