One of Lake Worth Beach’s best-known restaurants recently won a new deal on the rent it pays to the city for a prominent spot along the beachfront.
Operating on the city pier, Benny’s on the Beach’s rent will increase by 5% every other year starting after 2033, a change from its current yearly increase of 3.5%, under an agreement city commissioners approved in a 4-0 vote on June 16. That is an effective annual increase of 2.5%, or a smaller one than it pays now.
Commissioner Chris McVoy was absent from the meeting. The city said its staff will negotiate the final details with Benny’s.
Benny’s on Beach lease extension raises rent 5% every two years
Under the coming lease agreement, the oceanside eatery will remain on the pier, its home since 1986, until 2043. The current lease ends in 2033. Benny’s asked the city recently to grant it a 10-year extension.
Benny’s will pay more than $32,000 a month in rent to Lake Worth Beach this year. It will increase to just under $40,000 monthly in 2033.
“While our current lease has some time remaining, we believe that proactively securing a long-term extension now is in the best interest of both the City and Benny’s,” a letter from the restaurant to city officials said. Having a longer lease ensures the eatery will make big investments in the property and will keep its workers employed, the letter said.
While commissioners and some residents agreed with Benny’s, others opposed.
Former City Commissioner Kim Stokes derided Benny’s letter. “There are generic references to ‘continued capital investments,’ but not even a single example of what that capital investment has been,” she said at the meeting.
Commissioner Anthony Segrich lauded Benny’s and the deal.
“Benny’s on the Beach is our highest paying tenant,” he said. “No one else pays more. Now, they are in the premier spot in our city. They’re kind of the crown jewel at the beach.”
The restaurant also spends over $1 million each year on insurance and repairs, while risking the business being wiped out by hurricanes, Segrich said, “That takes an awful lot of guts.”
Lake Worth questioned on treatment of golf course restaurant’s lease
Stokes asked why the city is making The Beach Club Lake Worth on its golf course compete with other potential tenants to renew its lease when commissioners are agreeing to Benny’s request for a lease extension with smaller rent increases years before the term was set to expire. The Beach Club’s lease expires in 2027.
“I just don’t see why one tenant gets this special treatment,” Stokes said.
City commissioners had planned to vote June 16 to invite potential tenants to bid on renting out the restaurant space that the Beach Club now occupies along the Intracoastal Waterfront on the golf course. They postponed action because the restaurant owner, Mitch Reale, was away.
Representatives for the Beach Club had not attended previous city meetings where their lease was discussed, City Commissioner Sarah Malega said. Cary Sabol, attorney for the Beach Club, told commissioners neither he nor his client had been told by city officials about the previous or current meetings on lease discussion.
Benny’s lease has been a source of debate for years. The last time city officials renegotiated the rental contract, in 2023, some residents and commissioners thought it unfair the eatery’s rent was lower than other beachside businesses. Benny’s owner Lee Lipton and his supporters took out launched petitions and bought a billboard saying “Save Benny’s.”
Stokes, a commissioner at the time, opposed the initial lease renewal, saying the proposed rent was too low. She and three of her fellow elected officials eventually agreed to the deal that raised Benny’s rent 3.5% annually. McVoy was the sole “no” vote.
President Donald Trump nominated Lipton as U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines and the U.S. Senate confirmed him May 19.
Email news tips and article ideas to Chris Persaud at cpersaud@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Lease extension to keep Benny’s on Beach in Lake Worth. How long?
Reporting by Chris Persaud, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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By Chris Persaud, Palm Beach Post | USA TODAY Network
