FORT PIERCE – City officials say “neither side has clean hands” in a lease debacle with a waterfront restaurant that has left the city owed $280,000 in unpaid rent and taxes and an empty building.
In a report to city commissioners Monday, City Manager Richard Chess said it’s been “radio silence” from Beachside Hospitality Group, the parent company of Crabby’s Dockside, since the city asked last week for a lease settlement agreement and payment. Chess said St. Lucie County has confirmed that the city received and paid at least two years of property taxes for Crabby’s, but did not bill the restaurant for reimbursement until 2025.
Chess also told commissioners information about the account he received from the city’s finance department “wasn’t fact” and that he will be “addressing that with the finance department in serious ways.”…