PORT ST. LUCIE – The City Council here voted unanimously April 13 to approve the first amendment to the lease agreement between the city and the developer of the Port District dining venue, which includes permission for temporary structures on the site and an expanded lift station provided by the city.

Community Redevelopment Agency Director Jennifer Davis introduced the agenda item that afternoon. Her last update on the progress of the long-awaited restaurant on the banks of the St. Lucie River was last June, when she told the Council she’d be before them “in a few weeks” with a draft amendment. That time span, however, morphed into nearly a year as she and Miami developer Gaurav Butani hammered out more details in that draft document.

“This afternoon we’re bringing you the first amendment to the lease agreement with PIII regarding the restaurant development at the Port District,” she said of the park area south of the Botanic Garden. “The agreement is for PIII Investments to develop a multi-venue food garden concept consisting of one or more structures comprising up to 15,000 square feet. The benefit to the city will be achieving strategic goals with culture, nature and recreation, as well as a diverse economy and employment opportunities. There is no cost to the city associated with the lease agreement itself, and the lessor will be receiving revenue from the project.”

The original lease approved back in January 2023 with Butani – the manager of PIII Investments – actually involved a different Washington D.C.-based restaurateur to operate the riverfront establishment, but that entity backed out. During the June 23 update, Butani introduced officials from the Baltimore-based Atlas Restaurant Group who will now operate the facilities. Davis reminded the Board of the 30-year lease terms, which includes a base rent of $40,000 annually to be paid monthly with a 3 percent escalation and renewal options in five-year increments. The lessee would also be responsible for paying property taxes and assessments associated with the parcel as part of the contract.

“The terms before you today modify approximately 11 sections within the definitions,” she continued. “In addition, the temporary facilities were clarified. As this project was developed through the site plan process, a site plan amendment identified a phased-approach. As such, we did need to modify some language in the lease agreement. In addition, there was clarification about a due-diligence period with an existing ground lease that has since been terminated. Most of the other clarifications within the first amendment have to do with Phase 1 versus Phase 2.”

The last item in the lease agreement involved a change in the city-provided lift station on the property, whose capacity had initially been projected for a 6,000-square-foot restaurant and the park visitors to the area’s new playground. The playground’s success and Butani’s revised plans for a multi-venue food garden now require more capacity.

“So, the city will be adjusting the lift station to a 550-seat capacity,” Davis explained. “Anything beyond that would be the lessee’s responsibility in the future should they want to expand the restaurant service. Staff is recommending City Council approve the ordinance.”

Vice-Mayor Jolien Caraballo was the first to comment afterward.

“I want to thank the city manager and the team for making that happen because I know that was a challenge,” she said. “We couldn’t foresee the lift station having that much usage the way it did, which means the park is being supported, people are coming and the restaurant’s going to help bring others to the area. I do see our lessee out in the audience. Can he provide us a quick update?”

Butani then addressed the Council.

“We’re finally starting with construction,” he said. “When we first started this project, we had a grand vision, and despite all the challenges, we stuck to the vision. Yes, it’s taken time just getting our permits, and after the permits, it’s just a process with the financing and the banks. We have a great national builder, we have a great design architect and everything else is in place. we’re all very excited about it.”

“Now that construction’s starting, when can we anticipate completed construction?” Vice-Mayor Caraballo asked.

“Our construction completion date is May of next year,” Butani replied. “Then we have three or four months of per-operations with Atlas because we have several kitchens and several bars. It’s kind of like starting up a massive ship in a way if you think about it. Atlas has told us they don’t want to start in the middle of the summer when the weather isn’t conducive to a nice opening. We’ll figure out a nice date when we are ready to open and we’ll do a pre-launch.”

Acknowledging that the contract included temporary facilities, Butani didn’t want to guarantee he’d use those for an early opening at this point, however.

“We’re still working on the mechanics and we don’t want to put an obstacle on the construction team by having some temporary kind of operations,” he said.

The City Council then voted unanimously to approve the lease amendment.