Palm Coast City Council approves Loopers lease for the golf course

Although the restaurant won't open until March, the restaurant will provide limited alcohol services and the city plans to bring in a food truck for golfers.

By Sierra Williams
| 7:20 p.m. December 13, 2022

Jamie Bourdeau, co-owner of the Beach Front Grille, addresses the Palm Coast City Council about their new restaurant Loopers. Image from City Council livestream

Palm Coast Observer
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The new Palm Coast City Council has approved the lease agreement for "Loopers," the restaurant that will replace the Green Lion at the Palm Harbor Golf Club concession.

City Council held a back-to-back workshop and regular business meeting on Tuesday Dec. 13 in lieu of their scheduled Dec. 20 business meeting. At the double meeting, the agreement was approved in a 4-0 vote, with Councilman Nick Klufas absent.

By the numbers:

A comparison of the city's costs from the Green Lion and Loopers leases:

$7,200
The annual rent for the Green Lion lease, at $600 a month.

$17,982
The annual rent for Loopers' lease

$24,000
The amount of water the city paid at the concession building, including all of Green Lion's costs.

$12,000
The city's expected annual water costs at the location with the Loopers lease. The new concession will be expected to pay their share of the water costs for the clubhouse.

$6,000
The annual cost of electric the city paid for the entire clubhouse. The kitchen has since had a meter instead so Loopers will have their electric charged through the new meter, and pay their own electric and propane.

$7,200
The annual propane costs for the clubhouse, including the concession.

-$30,000
The amount of money the city was in the red annually with the Green Lion contract.

$5,982
The amount of money the city is estimated to earn after costs from the Loopers lease.

"This concession will be available to all residents within the city of Palm Coast and beyond," Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin said. " I hope that the entire community will enjoy the service and the reputation that [the Beach Front Grille] have brought forward and that we all enjoy a wonderful success together."

Upon review of the lease, Councilwoman Theresa Carli Pontieri requested two changes be made to the lease. The first, she said, was that the agreement did not have a provision for late payments and needed to be added in. She also requested clarification be added for maintenance on things like the HVAC system. The lease was approved with the amendments.

Loopers is owned by Beach Front Grille owners, Jamie Bourdeau and Dudley Shaw. The new concession restaurant is meant to begin their lease and renovations on Jan. 16 and fully open around March.

The city plans to have a food truck on the golf course until the concession opens, Chief of Staff Jason DeLorenzo said, while Loopers will sell limited alcoholic beverages.

The bidding for the concession opened Aug. 24, and had to be extended when only one applicant applied for the bid. It closed on Sep. 29 with two bids — Loopers and Thai & I Flagler, a Thai cuisine restaurant.

After a review of the submissions the city offered the lease to Bourdeau and Shaw. The restaurant will offer American cuisine for breakfast, lunch, dinner as well as specialty cocktails, much like it's sister location, the Beach Front Grille.

"We plan on being golfer-friendly but we're also going to be the local neighborhood bar as well," Bourdeau said.

"We plan on being golfer-friendly but we're also going to be the local neighborhood bar as well." — Jamie Bourdeau, co-owner of the Beach Front Grille and Loopers.

The Green Lion team will need to have vacated the premises by Jan. 15, after leasing the concession since 2017. The much-loved restaurant's lease became an issue and ensued a year-long battle when city council members found out the restaurant was under a $600 monthly lease for years.

City Council to start 2023 meetings at a run

The Palm Coast City Council has wrapped up its last meeting of 2022 in a double workshop and business meeting.

The council cancelled its Dec. 20, choosing instead to combine it with Tuesday Dec. 13's workshop meeting. The council will meet next on Jan. 10 and hit the ground running with the stormwater department's bi-annual update.

City Manager Denise Bevan reminded the council they will be going through a very comprehensive presentation from the update, which will also include engineering project updates.

The Belle Terre project, Bevan said, will be one of the ones included in that presentation. Bevan also reminded the public that the entire budget calendar is available online along with the related documents.

Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin wished his fellow council members and staff a happy holiday and new year, and too the time to remind residents to look after their health during the holiday season.

"Everybody please watch out for yourself and your own health and make sure that you and your family can enjoy the holiday period," Alfin said.

The cost of the lease was brought before city council last February when the owners indicated they wished to renew, and snowballed into a months-long confrontation between council members and the owners, the Marlow family.

The city was also paying the utilities, tied in with the golf course's utilities because of the plumbing and metering. In Tuesday's meeting, DeLorenzo provided a breakdown of the city's expected costs and revenue from the Green Lion and what is expected from the Loopers lease.

In all, the city will be going from a $30,000 annual cost for the clubhouse, even after the rent from Green Lion, to making $5,982 on the new lease.

Much of that, DeLorenzo said, was because the city will no longer be responsible for the lessee's water, propane or electric. New metering was installed to allow the separation of utilities in the kitchen, while the water bill will be split.