West Palm Mayor James details Related Ross 'offer' to Bradley's

• West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James and E.R. Bradley's Saloon operator Nick Coniglio dispute the details of a potential sale.
• A plan to turn parts of Flagler Drive into a park, backed by developer Stephen Ross, has sparked public debate.
• The Coniglio family, owners of Bradley's, claims the city has pressured them to sell, including mentioning eminent domain.

In a plan to create a waterfront park in downtown West Palm Beach that includes moving parts of Flagler Drive and possibly moving businesses, Mayor Keith James and the owners of E.R. Bradley's Saloon provided different versions of developer Stephen Ross' efforts to buy the waterfront restaurant site.

In an April 26 comment on LinkedIn, James said people "need to know the full story" about Related Ross' offer to buy Bradley's along Flagler Drive.

"Bradley’s was offered $50M to relocate to a brand new restaurant at the outskirts of the expanded waterfront. They demanded $100M. Who is being unreasonable?? Let me know what you think once you know ALL the facts," James wrote on the professional network site.

James wrote the LinkedIn comment in response to the posting of an essay by West Palm Beach resident MacKenzie Pierre.

The essay, entitled, "What A Local Bar Can Tell Us About Classism," stated: "Bradley’s is not just a bar. It is one of the last places downtown where working- and middle-class people still feel like they belong."

In a Monday, April 27 interview, Bradley's operator Nick Coniglio called James' LinkedIn comment "false."

"We've never received any contracts from them," Coniglio said of Related Ross, West Palm Beach's dominant real estate developer. "It's all been conceptualized offers. They don't want to pay."

As for the price, the Coniglios said Ross floated $30 million for the family's Clematis Street holdings, but he never provided any written contract offer.

Coniglio's holdings total 46,000 square feet, including the building that houses the Avocado Grill. Coniglio said Ross offered other Clematis Street property owners $2,000 per square foot, and that at $2,000 per square foot, a purchase offer should be more than $90 million.

A price anywhere near that level was never set, he said. Instead, Coniglio said Ross pivoted to the new restaurant idea, a proposal the Coniglios rejected.

In an email James sent to The Palm Beach Post on Monday, April 27, the mayor said Related Ross offered the Coniglio family a $35 million "moving fee" for their land and a new restaurant, an amount lower than the $50 million he mentioned in his LinkedIn claim.

"As part of those discussions, a $35 million relocation opportunity was presented," James said in his prepared statement. "Under that scenario, the owners would retain full property rights in perpetuity, along with exclusivity as the only restaurant within the park.

"While this option was considered, it was communicated that acceptance would require a significantly higher 'moving fee' of $100 million, rather than the proposed $35 million."

The new restaurant would be on the waterfront at Flagler Drive, a public road that would be closed and turned into lawn as part of the proposed park plan.

Coniglio said his lawyers told Ross officials the idea is a nonstarter.

"Our attorneys said, 'You cannot move the Coniglios to land that is not yours,' " Coniglio said.

A Related Ross spokesperson said the company would not comment.

Is James backpedaling or doubling down?

James' LinkedIn comment came three days after he posted a conciliatory video on YouTube in which he stressed the park plan "was an early-stage concept" that would seek "community input every step of the way."

The April 23 video was in response to growing public furor over a once hush-hush plan between him and Ross, the Palm Beach billionaire real estate developer, to turn parts of Flagler Drive into a park.

The plan, first revealed on April 22 by The Palm Beach Post, would have included Ross' purchase of several Clematis Street private properties, including Bradley's, to add to the park.

In addition, Flagler Drive between Banyan Boulevard on the north side and Fern Street on the south side would be routed to Narcissus Avenue, with the eastern part of the street turned to lawn.

In the video, James said Ross volunteered to spend $30 million to build the park.

While some members of the community have expressed support for a downtown park, others are concerned by plans to eliminate parts of Flagler Drive and push the roadway into an already crowded downtown.

Others are upset about the threatened deprivation of the private property rights of the Coniglios, including the right either to keep their property or establish their own sales price.

Making matters worse is that James told the Coniglios that the city would exercise its power of eminent domain if the family didn't cooperate.

Eminent domain is the government's ability to take private property if it is for a public purpose.

James has acknowledged his consideration of eminent domain but said it's not on the table anymore.

Coniglios feeling the pressure from the city

Even without the threat of eminent domain, Coniglio said the city "already is bearing down on us."

For years, the Coniglio family, with ties to Palm Beach, where Bradley's originally opened in 1984, has leased a strip of city-owned land between the Bradley's restaurant and Flagler Drive. The land has allowed the restaurant to expand outdoor seating.

Last year, the Coniglio family said it was poised to buy the site for $3 million. At the last moment, just prior to city commission approval of the surplus-land sale, the city canceled the deal, Coniglio said.

Then the family's lease on the site was canceled, too, he said.

Coniglio family members appealed to top city staffers, and the lease was returned. But Coniglio said the message was sent that his family needed to "play ball."

A city spokesperson did not respond to an inquiry about the leased land.

Latest park plan could be built around Bradley's

The latest plan is to build the park around Bradley's, which the Coniglio family said would landlock their holdings and hurt their business.

Former West Palm Beach Mayor Nancy Graham recently weighed in on city machinations.

In a recent Facebook comment, she said the city's historic streets were not meant to handle high-rise towers or increased traffic.

In addition, "the timing to get ambulances over the bridges from Palm Beach will be diminished" with the Flagler Drive park plan, she wrote.

Alexandra Clough is a business writer at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at [email protected]. X: @acloughpbp. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.