Waterfront Market

In todays Citizen

Sun sets

on bight

landmark

Waterfront Market

owner no longer

interested in selling,

attorney says

BY MANDY BOLEN

Citizen Staff

Waterfront Market is scheduled

to close in nine days, and

owner Buco Pantelis no longer is

interested in selling the popular

grocery, seafood market, wholesale

and deli business, his lawyer

said Thursday.

“I don’t think [Pantelis] is going

to go ahead with the sale,” attorney

Ginny Stones said.

The store is expected to be liquidated

and its contents sold,

which would be in compliance

with a July 31 emergency court

motion Pantelis filed during

divorce proceedings requesting

permission to liquidate the family

business.

Negotiations for the sale of

the Waterfront Market to local

developers Raymond Vazquez

and Allen Perez fell through

Wednesday evening, and the

men signed a cancellation agreement

Thursday, Stones said.

Vazquez said there were certain

items he and Pantelis could

not agree on during negotiations.

Key West Mayor Morgan

McPherson said Thursday the

deal fell through because Pantelis

would not sign a non-compete

agreement with the potential

new owners.

Stones could not be reached

late Thursday to confirm that.

mbolen@keysnews.com

Waterfront Market

I just got my Key West Citizen. Good for Pantelis for not signing a non-compete clause. I wish him the best and may he continue serving his clients in some fashion.

Waterfront Market

Arnie,

Thanks for posting, this looks good for everyone.

PJ

oops, I wanted to say ';does not look good for anyone';. Stupid phone keep ringing.

I feel so bad for the employees...... or should I say former employees.

So , is it that this all has something to do with a division of assets because of a divorce? I don%26#39;t remember that mentioned in previous posts on this subject..

lulutoo, it has nothing to do with a divorce. The City of Key West raised the rent so high he has to close the doors.

Then what exactly is the reference in the press release quoted above asking for permisiion to ';liquidate the assets of the Waterfront Market? '; I am not an attorney, but it sounds like a reference to a divorce proceeding to me... why else would the';permission '; of a court be required?

lulutoo, the article does mention divorce proceedings. That is news to me, I thought the place was closing because of the higher rent.

Might be some combination of the two issues. Could be that because the city raised the rent so high, it%26#39;s forcing him to close and sell the assets. In an ongoing divorce proceeding, typically there is a bar on selling assets to keep one side or the other from hiding things or value. So it would require him to get the court order to liquidate the business asssets because he%26#39;s forced to close the business since the city raised the rent.

Whew, I need a beer now...

';';So , is it that this all has something to do with a division of assets because of a divorce? I don%26#39;t remember that mentioned in previous posts on this subject..';';

I was one of the lucky ones to receive a reply to my e-mail to Mayor Murry McPherson. In it he blamed part of the situation on the pending divorce. )He said a few other things,too) I did not feel it was right for me to pass that information along at the time.