LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. — One of the most well-known restaurants in Lake Worth Beach may soon be closing for good.
For residents like Richard Albanese, every day is a vacation at Benny's on the Beach.
But the vacation could be cut short if Lake Worth Beach leaders terminate the restaurant's lease with the city.
"It will be sad to see it go," Albanese said.
City commissioners voted Tuesday night not to extend the lease for Benny's on the Beach.
"It was not Lake Worth's best night," Mayor Betty Resch said.
Benny's on the Beach has been open since 1986 and employs about 200 people.
The new lease for the next 10 years would have increased the rent by 33%, bringing it more in line with the other businesses at the beach.
But for some commissioners, that was not enough.
"I don't think that this is the best deal that we can get," Commissioner Kim Stokes said.
Benny's owner Lee Lipton spoke passionately with commissioners.
"If you vote no, you know, that's the end for me," Lipton said. "I'm not renegotiating the lease at this point. … Just evict us, and that's it, or let us stay."
Resch was one of two votes to approve the lease agreement.
"I'm very disappointed," she said. "We have an iconic restaurant that is the biggest attraction in Lake Worth Beach, that employs 150 to 200 people, most of whom live here in Lake Worth Beach. He accepted a 33% raise in rent and somehow, for my colleagues, that was not enough. I'm just not sure why that went that way."
Resch said it sends a bad message to the business community and future business owners who may want to relocate to Lake Worth Beach.
"You know, we say we're business-friendly, but when it came right down to it, we were not so business-friendly," she said.
Resch said the offer was fair.
"It was a 3.5% increase every year, which is the same as the other buildings at the casino," she said of the lease agreement. "It was from $33 a square foot he's paying now to $42 the first year and $44 after that, so a lot of money."
But this issue is not over yet.
"I'm really hoping that cooler heads will prevail, and we'll be able to save hard-working people up at the beach," Resch said.
That's what Albanese hopes as well.
"The city should back down, let him keep running with what he's got going," Albanese said.
Resch said the lease runs through about mid-May, but that could be adjusted.
Lipton wasn't available to comment about the restaurant's future.
