SURFSIDE BEACH -- Yet another round of bidding for the town's pier restaurant space has yielded no results for Surfside Beach.
The town-owned space was put out for bid a third time on Tuesday, and the town still has no tenant.
Now the town is waiting for an opinion from the South Carolina Attorney General's office to figure out its next step.
Surfside officials want to know if it is able, under state and local law, to hire a commercial real estate agent to help get the space rented. It sent a letter to that office on Nov. 23 seeking the answer to that question, said Mayor Allen Deaton earlier this week.
Deaton did not comment after the bidding on Tuesday.
A commercial broker could bring in more interest from outside the local market, said Tom Sponseller, president of the S.C. Hospitality Association.
He said they also could "give the city a better idea of what the true value of the space is.
"It's all supply and demand," Sponseller said, and judging by the lack of bids there is not a lot of demand for this space.
Sponseller said its hard for businesses to "make the numbers work" in publicly owned spaces because there's always a chance they could be out-bid when their lease expires.
The start-up costs for a restaurant are high but those costs are usually spread over the 20 to 30 years of operation.
Towns usually only offer five-year leases before they have to be put out for bid again, which is "not a very long period of time for anyone to open a business, especially a restaurant," Sponseller said.
Jack Cahill, owner of Nibils and the current lease holder of the pier eatery until Dec. 31, said he paid more than $70,000 a year in rent to the town, in addition to taxes.
And he said a new owner might have to do some expensive work on the space before it is operational.
Cahill said the space was previously grandfathered under earlier code standards, but the new owner of the building might have to bring it up to code with changes such as an attached bathroom, new grease traps and a new hood system.
"All that stuff's going to add up," he said. "Maybe that's why they can't lease it."
An answer is expected soon from the attorney general, but councilman Doug Samples said he thinks the town should have sought an opinion earlier in the process "before we chased the past tenants out."
He said he expects the letter to say that the town has met its obligation in terms of the competitive bid process and that it can now move forward with other options.
"The town is in a very, very difficult situation I believe of our own making," he said. "I hope that council learns from this experience."
Samples said he doesn't think a council meeting should be held to figure out the next steps until after New Year's.
"The next step in this process needs to be conducted openly and transparently to ensure that no funny business transpires," he said.
The next regular town council meeting is scheduled for Jan. 11 at 6:30 p.m.
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