FORT WORTH -- Without open bidding, the Trinity River Vision Authority signed a 10-year lease with Tim Love and spent $970,000 building a restaurant structure at the most popular riverbank trailhead, hoping that the celebrity chef's Woodshed Smokehouse will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in a profit-sharing rent arrangement.
J.D. Granger, the authority's executive director, said he personally vetted several companies that expressed interest in a concession at 3201 Riverfront Drive, owned by the Tarrant Regional Water District, which oversees the authority.The scenic location overlooks the bike-and-jogging trail along the river and is close to the Fort Worth Zoo, the Colonial Country Club and the University Park Village shopping center on the busy corridor that links the Cultural District to Texas Christian University.Unlike municipal lease deals, those offered by water districts do not require competitive bidding under Texas law, said Anthony Magee, a Dallas attorney with Gruber Hurst Johansen Hail Shank who is familiar with such issues.Still, some North Texas restaurant owners criticized the deal, saying they were not given a chance to offer their proposals."Gosh, I wish we had an opportunity to bid on this," said Shannon Wynne, CEO of Dallas-based 8.0 Management, which operates three Fort Worth restaurants, Flying Saucer, Flying Fish and the downtown open-air 8.0. "I had been looking up and down the river for a location like that for 18 months."I don't know how Tim got the call, but he's a lucky guy to get it," Wynne said. "We weren't asked and so I was upset. I asked J.D., 'Who did you all ask?'"David Shaw, co-owner of Shaw's on Magnolia and a former president of the Tarrant Restaurant Association, said he had heard rumblings of a paddleboat concession there but not a whisper about a restaurant."I think there would be other people interested if they had known about it," said Shaw, who is on the board of the state restaurant owners association. "I just can't believe Tim was the only one interested. Who did [Granger] approach? Did he send out letters? Did he just sit in a bar and talk about that?"Granger defended his selection process, saying he worked to find restaurateurs successful with open-air sites.He began the search after being approached by a company that wanted to put in a teahouse, then another came forward asking to run a paddleboat concession, and a third inquired about constructing an office building. But he said he thought a restaurant fit the location best.An iconic local restaurant company Granger approached turned down the suggestion at the time, he said."Now that it's there, they've begged me to buy out the first tenant's lease" -- offering more than $100,000, he said, declining to identify the company publicly.Neither Love nor Granger recalls who approached whom first about the site.Because of its location, on the bank of a narrow section of the Trinity River's Clear Fork, the site was extremely difficult to develop, and the Army Corps of Engineers made clear that it could only be rented, not sold, Granger said.Agency's goals"The goal was to do something that smartly addressed the river" and made business sense, he said, noting public criticism over the riverbank location of a parking lot and trash bins for a Pappadeaux restaurant across Interstate 30.In the end, Granger said, he reviewed two proposals and selected Love's. One thing that the high-profile chef -- who owns Lonesome Dove, White Elephant Saloon and Love Shack -- could bring to the table is an ability to generate interest in North Texas and beyond, he said, noting that Love had mentioned the Woodshed on national television. Love was interviewed and did a cooking demonstration Nov. 8 on ABC-TV's The Chew.The water district board approved the lease and is enthusiastic about the project, board member Jim Lane said."He's world-class, he's famous and I believe he is going to hit a home run," said Lane, a former Fort Worth councilman. "And if we get a percentage of the gross, I'd think we should be part of that."Love insisted on a profit-sharing lease instead of rent figured on a square-foot basis, Granger said.In return, Love agreed to let cyclists and joggers use the restrooms without buying anything, to keep prices moderate and to ensure that a specified number of beers would be on tap, he said.Granger said he had no qualms about a no-bid lease arrangement, adding that he was only now hearing from other potential tenants."I tried to get people to bite on this for the longest time," he said. "And no one would. Now, all of a sudden, they love the site. Before, it was 'too small.'"Opening delayedThe Woodshed, designed in an eclectic light-industrial-meets-urban-fish-camp style, has won a local architecture award for Bennett Benner Petit, formerly Gideon Toal.But a planned opening in September has been delayed because of a code issue.Last week, Love agreed in principle to cut back slightly on interior space so that the structure is small enough not to require ceiling sprinklers, said David Hall, the city's assistant director of planning and development. Originally, the leased premises measured 10,295 square feet of enclosed and unenclosed areas.The Woodshed should open within four weeks, said Love, who is planning a Dec. 17 event that has participants running to his near west side burger place, Love Shack, for a beer, then running back.The lease agreement, made available to the Star-Telegram after a Texas Public Information Act request, has the Woodshed paying 6 percent on the first $500,000 of sales, 5 percent on the next $500,000, and then 4 percent on sales over $1,000,001."That lease is great -- for the tenant," said Stephen "Duffy" Oyster, whose Dallas-based Rock Bay Properties III owns 15 restaurant properties in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arizona. "I am shocked. There are no personal guarantees there, which is wonderful for the tenant. A sweet deal."Granger disagreed, saying that if the Woodshed closes before the end of the lease, the district would get some $400,000 in restaurant equipment and improvements.And with so much interest now surfacing, finding a new tenant would be no challenge, he added.Love said the first rent payment will be figured on gross sales at the end of 30 days. He said such rent arrangements are increasingly common.After examining the agreement, Oyster called it "a real cheap lease. A typical lease would say 6 percent versus some kind of minimum rent based on the value of the property.""If he does $2 million or $3 million in sales, the water district wins, he wins. It's the best of all worlds," Oyster said."If it goes south, the tenant is in a better situation than the water district," he added. "It was stupid on the water district's part not to bid it out because I think they could have gotten a lot more favorable lease."There's a lot of meat on the bone."Barry Shlachter, 817-390-7718Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
