RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — Riviera Beach's Marina Village project is back on hold after Margaritaville said developers gave the city a fraudulent letter indicating their interest in building a hotel.
Documents show developers want to add apartments, shops, restaurants, a parking garage and a hotel to the marina. But, council members voted to restart the bidding process for some elements after city officials found developers submitted a fraudulent letter while submitting a joint proposal.
The backtracking comes after council members gave Atlanta-based APD Solutions Real Estate Group and Tezral Partners, a Riviera Beach company partially run by the city’s former Community Redevelopment Agency leader, an extension in July. Then, the two companies were supposed to submit a joint proposal but submitted two different projects.
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Here's the latest on Riviera Beach's Marina Village expansion project
Documents WPTV obtained show an attorney for APD apologized for the fake letter. He said there was no intention of fraud, rather, they sent a draft letter as the deadline approached for a new submission.
“As time was of the essence, and as APD received communications that a new letter was pending, there was an error made in submitting the Draft under a tight deadline,” Jamar D. Jordan wrote to Margaritaville Enterprises. “In no way was the letter sent to the City with the purpose of defrauding anyone, or in making any representations other than what the parties believed had been negotiated.”
Riviera Beach council member Shirley Lanier said the issue with the letter was a sign to put a “full stop” on the project. She said she believed some additional competition would ensure the project gets completed rather than wait on developers facing problems.
“That right there is a full stop,” Lanier said. “We need to cut our losses. We need to put this back out. We need to get some competition.”
The project at Marina Village would add nine different developments. Tezral and APD Solutions Real Estate Group were working together to build elements 1-6, which included restaurants, shops and a hotel with Margaritaville branding.
Riviera Beach’s Community Redevelopment Agency, made up of Riviera Beach council members, said those are the projects the government agency will re-open the bidding
A spokesperson for Tezral said the plan to build apartments, elements 7 and 8, are still on as those are different agreements. A spokesperson for a different developer involved in the project said the Margaritaville hotel is still likely on, but Margaritaville didn’t respond to our media request sent Tuesday morning.
Demetri Salloum, who owns Rafiki Tiki Bar & Grill in the Marina Village, said he’s hopeful he can expand his restaurant at the event center. He said he wants the space to add indoor seating, which he believes will allow him to keep his restaurant busy when the weather is lousy and host more events
“We have weddings, We have anniversaries, We have people graduating from school,” Salloum said. “If it rains they cancel.”
He’s also hopeful the development would bring more people to his restaurant. Salloum said he usually puts on events himself at the Marina to bring more foot traffic.
