Speaker 2: That would be great. We'll work on the timing on that. Thank you. And with that, we will take on item number 24.
Speaker 1: Item 24 report from Economic Development, Parks, Recreation and Marine and Public Works. Recommendation to enter into concession agreements for the Operation of Food Concession at Granada Beach and Alamitos Beach Districts. Two or three.
Speaker 2: Before. I want to hear this item. Can I get a motion in a second, please? I have emotion over emotion in a second. Let me go ahead and go to presentation. It's staff.
Speaker 7: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. So we do have a presentation on this item. Mrs.. Ah, some pretty significant leases that you're entering into to really activate our beachfront. We have some wonderful.
Speaker 5: Opportunities we've been engaging.
Speaker 7: In to bring.
Speaker 2: People down to the beach and.
Speaker 7: Really improve the beach experience. We have also received.
Speaker 2: One.
Speaker 3: Or possibly two.
Speaker 7: Protests on this item, so we want to make sure that we're spending time to really explain the process that was gone through, explain staff's recommendations, and also address some of the questions that were brought up during the protest process. So I will turn this over now to the team to walk through the presentation.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Tom. The this item is a continuation of of an effort to identify and select beach concessionaires across our main waterfront area. Today, we're going to be focusing on the final two areas, the Grenada and the Alamitos Beach areas. The project goals were much more than just find a vendor. We've been really working hard to activate our waterfront and improve it and increase access and the beach experience. And we were we've also been looking for a assortment of different options and to really diversify the opportunities along the beachfront of approachable menus and pricing and long term partnerships with the city. And and just improving our overall public infrastructure has been a major focus for us. This is this is the final stage of a process that started a couple of years ago. We initially started with an RFP that that didn't create the the activity that we were hoping for. So we engaged a brokerage firm to help us lead this effort as we identified vendors and we conducted interviews with were folks to submit a proposal, and we extended that due to COVID. But we're now at a point where we're making recommendations. I'm going to start with with Granada Beach and the concession concession that we're recommending in this area, we found a concessionaire, a vendor that is looking to take advantage of the amenities of Granada, the specifically Rosie's Dog Beach and and the launch ramp that that that's available there. So I'm going to briefly provide the overview of what of what the vendor is proposing. We have a combination of of sunbeds cabanas and a dog agility course located to be located west of the launch ramp and south of the existing concessions that we the this will require additional review and approvals specifically from the California Coastal Commission . And so the vendor has agreed to go through that process. And in the case that the concept was not approved, there is an opportunity for the selected concessionaire to terminate the lease. I'm now going to focus on on Alamitos. Alamitos has been a major focus area for us. There's been an investment area where we've built and enhanced the pedestrian and bike path. We build new traffic signals, sidewalks and bike lanes. We've been able to rebuild the staircase, the parking lot and obviously the concession facility itself that's that's in progress. This is also an area that gets a lot of special events, activities. The Grand Prix and the Long Beach Marathon are just two of the big ones. There's a regularly major events here that that use this area. For those of you that recall the previous facility wasn't really bad shape was in need of major improvements and this is what we're building out. These are actual pictures of the existing condition of the new facility. So I'm just going to go back for a second to show that before and then the day after was being built. It's about 90% complete. The final touches are still happening. A new amenity as part of this project is the development of an actual playground. To the left. You see a picture of the concept. To the right you see the picture of actual current status of the project. So now we feel like it's going to truly continue to transform the landscape and the and the waterfronts as we've been doing with some of the other projects. I'm going to turn it over to John Chrisler and Mary, who's going to walk us through the listing process and the different steps that we've gone through in order to get to where we're at now.
Speaker 7: John Yeah, thank you so much, Eric. And so this this is a listing process. We use this for a lot of our real estate agreements. And in this case, we worked with a consultant, a commercial real estate broker that is selected through a competitive bid process and is what we call on our bench to do targeted outreach to groups that might be interested in a particular real estate or leasing opportunity. So Leon Associates was our commercial broker in this case. They were able to secure six letters of interest from six different groups, as well as to provide them with background access to the site so that they could develop their concepts. There was a multidisciplinary. What that means is at least four different departments were involved and are, of course our commercial broker to review each of the proposals as well as to conduct interviews with all of the proposers who had submitted a letter of interest. In this case, the group selected in a unanimous choice. What is listed here is Downey Restaurant Company is actually Beach Restaurant Group, an affiliate of Downey Restaurant Company, otherwise known as Gaucho Grill. And the proposal was evaluated based on these six categories or criteria which included the menu affordability, demonstrated experience, financial strength, proposed hours of operation, and a demonstrated willingness to partner with the city because of how active this area is for both visitors as well as special events. So to tell you a little bit about Gaucho Grill or in this case the Gaucho Beach, they offer three different concepts seven days a week. And this is important because, as you know, this location is right near the bike path and there's different customers in the morning, in the evening, as well as different customers throughout the weekend. And so there's there's three different amenities. Gaucho Beach is more of the sit down restaurant concept. Gaucho Cafe is more of the Quick Serve Cafe and then Gaucho Mercato, which is the grab and go option for those visitors who are passing through on the run. So one of the key criteria for the selection of this group had to do with the menu as well as the hours of operation. And you can see the range of of the different types of foods as well as the price points. This location, of course, also will offer alcohol, beverages and ultimately a range of of of options for both food on the go as well as sit down. Gaucho Café would be more of that quick serve experience for different times of the day. Usually the earlier parts of the day and you can get a sense of the price points as well as the range for that menu. And then finally in your presentation, you'll see the mercato, and this is more of a of a store where you can get some of the items that are provided in the cafe as well as the restaurant. But you're able to to to take them on the run. They're available in this format. And these pictures are actually from another location, I believe this is Bueno Park, where Gaucho Mercato is a proven concept and is currently in business as well. So just to give you a little bit of a sense of what the terms of this lease would be, this will be an initial term of five years. It would commence immediately, almost at September 1st, and there would be two five year additional options to extend the base rent. Here would be 12,720 per month. There would be CPI or Consumer Price Index increases no more than 3% per year. But then we would see the rents rent commencement period after the building would receive its CEO or certificate of occupancy. So that likely is not going to happen until June of 22 because there's pretty extensive tenant improvements that need to occur and the concessionaire in this case will be responsible for the build out of all concessions. I believe that this is about a $1.2 million investment from this particular vendor. And in this case, the vendor will also be paying for all of their utilities and other costs. Of course, refuse maintenance. And those things include. So what we wanted to make sure that we covered. Typically, we we will get either a complaint or a protest. We wanted to make sure that we shared with the council those those criticisms of the process so that we're transparent. The complaints that we received were primarily about the affordability of the items that were being provided, the correct concepts for the area, whether it fits for the customers or or the lifestyle and activity level, the experience of the proposers, their financial strength, the hours of operation that they were proposing, the issue of local preference, whether or not the company is a resident or has done business in the city before. And then the greatest economic value to the city, how much potential, direct and indirect impact that the vendor would would have on that location and the city at large. Obviously, there's some questions about maximizing the return on the city's asset. That's always important to us. Our process that we used in this case to select the vendor and ultimately how this vendor will activate the area. So this is a summary of the complaints. We're happy to address any of those issues for the Council, but we wanted to make sure that we at least address them for you in in in summary. So we've we've looked at the various issues and we've determined that ultimately we stand by the recommendation of the committee. I personally, as the director, do not sit on the committees. These are individuals that are selected for their areas of expertize. But I do have some separation from that process for this for this reason. But in this case, the seven issues that were identified, um, you know, I'll just go through this real quick, but the listing process is consistent. We've reviewed this before. It's used consistently in the private sector for these kinds of leasing opportunities. Unfortunately, local preference is not allowed in the tidelands by state law. That's not something that we can use as a differentiator. Um, the Gaucho Grill proposal met the goals for the Alamitos Beach concession stand for activation, variety, affordability, etc. while offering a market rent rate rent gauchos Girl Grill's proposal also provided those three different concepts that we just reviewed to ensure that the concession stand would be activated morning, noon and night, seven days a week. The proposal offered a variety of items and prices through each concept from grab and go to formal sit down, as we had mentioned, item six. They are currently operating these concepts in other areas of the region and they own two downtown restaurants here in Long Beach. We've even checked with some of their neighbors on Pine Avenue to see if they were good neighbors and ultimately that checked out as well. And as I mentioned here, in terms of being local, they received letters of support from downtown businesses as well to support their application. And our follow up. So there's one change to the recommendation that I need to read into the record, and that is ultimately that Beach Restaurant group. We listed it as Downey Restaurant Company. This was a staff error. It is an affiliate of Downey Restaurant Company. But we want to make sure that we get the right name in the council recommendation because that's what goes into our contracts. So our two recommendations are to authorize the city manager or designee to enter into beach concessions agreements with both Monty's Beach and Beach Restaurant Group, Inc., for the operation of food concessions at both Coronado Beach and Alamitos Beach, respectively, on the stated terms and conditions from the presentation, including options to renew at the discretion of the city manager. And the second recommendation is to authorize the city manager designee to negotiate and execute any necessary modifications to the proposed terms that may be necessary to expedite establishment of the beach concessions operation. So with that, I'll turn it back over to the city manager and I have Mary Toys R, our acting real estate development bureau manager, to help us answer any questions. Thank you very much, John. So that concludes today's presentation. As mentioned, we wanted to make sure you had all the details and we did have those protests and we bring those to your attention.
Speaker 2: I think we.
Speaker 7: Are satisfied with staff's recommendation.
Speaker 5: Really is up to the council to take that next step.
Speaker 2: Which could be.
Speaker 7: As we recommend the staff recommendation.
Speaker 2: Or alternate direction to.
Speaker 7: Cease the process and to begin again. Again, we feel it's been a very fair process.
Speaker 5: We had a.
Speaker 7: Unanimous committee.
Speaker 5: Vote and as a.
Speaker 7: Group that is going to provide the most service.
Speaker 5: Seven days a week are on the beach with varying.
Speaker 7: Options.
Speaker 5: Really was the best proposal.
Speaker 2: And we stand by four questions. Thank you. Have a motion and a second. I'm going to go do the public comment. That is has the given please have the following folks, please come forward in this order. Sarah Sagmeister, Davina Hernandez, Mark Kirk, Kratos in and Adrian Amore. In that order they're saying master they're going to Hernandez Mark Gunter Kirk Kratos in and Adrian Amore if I can have them please approach the podium and they can begin.
Speaker 0: Mayor Garcia and council members. My name is Sarah Tong, Sang Meister. I'm a long time resident of the third district and an owner of Gladstone's Long Beach in the second District. We know everybody's time is valuable. I know you guys have already been here a long time tonight, so I'm going to try to keep this as short as possible. I'm speaking tonight to ask the council to table this motion or redact the references to the Alamitos Beach concession. More than 20 years ago, my husband John and I took a large gamble cobbled together investors and Gladstone signed the first lease in the new waterfront area known as the Pike. That was a bet. The farm proposition for our family and at the time downtown was not family friendly and for those of us that were living here was frankly pretty moribund. We're proud to have been an integral part of the revitalization of downtown and the waterfront. We love this city very much. John and I sent you a letter yesterday, which we hope all of you have had a chance to review and reviewed more of our details and concerns. And we appreciate the city staff taking the time to address some of those. The last 17 months have really been a roller coaster of economic, social and medical issues and problems that you and the city staff have all had to deal with. As a former Parks and RECs commissioner, I know how hard city staff works. I know John Keisler very well and I appreciate all the hard work that's been put forth by the Economic Development Department, Parks and Rec and Public Works departments on all of this vetting process. But I want my comments to focus on two main things, and I know I'm running out of time. Return on investment and timing. Given John's for his presentation earlier this evening, he referenced looking for a return on investment and the need for his group to maximize the return on investment. Given a mandate for a way, I'm not sure how the economics of these bids don't play some sort of role. And I noted in the presentation it said that rent offered was not a determining factor. If that had been the case, I wish that had been actually in the proposal because John and I would not have proposed what we did, which was a greater rent than what was asked for in the bid. I would have told John to keep it down, but no, we actually proposed. Instead of the $3 in a ten year term, we suggested a $1.7 million a tenant improvement investment and suggested a rent starting at $3.50 a square foot and a term of ten years. I know also in this proposal that now the proposal also suggests a five year term, at least at the at the beginning. I'd urge the council to look at these economic issues closely. I also understand now that this group also owns Agave and Alegria. And as a member of the Downtown, I look, I would ask you to look at those groups as well. Thank you. I've run out of time. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Next week.
Speaker 0: Hi, my name is Davina Hernandez and I'm a resident in District two of Long Beach. My goal here today is to ask you to take this agenda item regarding the awarding of Alamitos concession stand to the Downey Group. I'm sorry, I use Downey Group because I wasn't aware of the change of name. I would like to start by saying that I hope you understand that Mark Dutton and I are not here as embittered losers of our bid. In fact, as a local social science history teacher, this is my first bid and I'm impressed that it actually went this far. We are here for the following concerns. The criteria we were given from the city, from the city staff were as follows Unique concept activation of the area, locally owned and family friendly experience and financial backing and Tom Rodriguez letter. He stated that each proposal was evaluated on the following six items menu and local concept menu and location concept affordability of menu items demonstrated experience, financial strength, hours of operation and willingness to partner with the city in the activation of the area. As you can see, the city's expectations were different from the criteria we received. Some groups received different criteria than others. This alone shows that this process was not equitable. When our group compared Downey Group at Danny Group's proposal not only to Arvid, but to others, we were more, even more concerned. For example, concept, our group proposed a mexican Caribbean taco bar with a check average of $22 and 15 or less for on the go and breakfast items. This concept with the ambiance we presented makes sense for a location on the beach and the local demographic. Downey Group proposed an Argentinean steakhouse. With the market and on the go items at stake is more expensive than tacos. Their check averages will be much higher than ours, making it difficult for local beachgoers and residents to pop in frequently. Not to mention, this concept was unsuccessful at activating Pine Street and closed before COVID. Demonstrated experience. Our group has activated both downtown with District Line and the Rainbow Bridge with Receive. Both restaurants are still operational and successful. Our owners have invested in numerous successful restaurants in the city, including legends and Boathouse on the Bay Downey Group. After research, we have found that they own or are part of two local restaurants on Pine, but also act as nightclubs. What we found with our research is they also own a cannabis restaurant in West Hollywood. Our question to you is, will they be serving these edibles at the family friendly gaucho grill environment that they will have at the beach located right next to a playground? Financial strength. We're not sure how they judge this item, but our group has the backing of many successful Long Beach business owners and a man who owns the largest conference call company in the world. The headquarters of this business are here in Long Beach. With multiple change deadlines, information given to some and not all. No communication as to why the decision was over three months late and choosing a group that is not local. I implore you to reconsider.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 3: I thank you, honorable mayor and council. My name is Mark Dunton and I just want to say thank you for taking the time. I'm a Long Beach district resident and business owner for over 14 years. We submitted a bid for the Elmhurst Beach location, so I am formally requesting that we table this today so we can go into why the bid process from our end was murky and no transparency. Once from the start, we got our criteria and we went off that and that oftentimes changed throughout the process, unbeknownst to us. So then we'd find out, Hey, this process was this way, and then someone would say, Well, we went this way with the process . So the criteria was very murky, hard to understand. So we want to go back and say, Hey, here's the criteria for this bid. And as a restaurant tour, that makes us a lot, a lot simpler for us to understand what's needed and what you guys are looking for. We had tons of experience. We thought we met the criteria. And I'm definitely not here to. Bash the winner or anything like that. I just want to bash the process that it was as it.
Speaker 5: Was happening.
Speaker 3: In the criteria wasn't even close to at the end was thank you for explaining that and I'm glad it went well in your end. But from our end, like as a restauranteur, it was all over the place. So we were you were just asking that we just take a pause on this and really dissect that criteria so this doesn't happen again. So we can really understand what you guys are looking.
Speaker 5: For in this restaurant.
Speaker 3: We want to be successful no matter who gets it, but we all want a fair shot at this so the criteria can be determined exactly what's needed. What does local mean? What does financial backing mean? How do you get to that? So if I just say, please table this for today so we can look at the criteria as a whole and do this the right way so we could all come at this as a strong unit together.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Speaker, please. I'd like to submit to the city clerk some of our. Packets. Honorable Mayor and members of the City Council staff from Public Works, Economic Development, Administrative Staff. My name is Kurt Cartesian. I'm one of the owners of the Gaucho Family of restaurants. My partner Adriana Mosa is here as well. We're very excited to be here even at this late point in the evening and sat through a very professional set of agenda items. We commend you for that. In addition to what has been shared previously. We're here to answer any questions you might have, but this has been a rather rigorous process dating back. I think when one individual mentioned it being 17 months, it was at least a year of work getting to this point. And we think we think staff to this point, to this point, we still have not met any committee members. So who those members are is still a bit of a known to us. I personally was born in the city of Long Beach. I've lived in five different residences here in the city on Chestnut, on Appian Way, on Claremont, on Covina and Corona. And Adrian has lived two different residences and has operated four different businesses in Long Beach. The location previously that was a Gaucho family restaurant was not closed down, it was too small, and it was an expansion project on Pine. Our most recent project in Bueno Park is an 11,500 square foot facility. We invite you guys to come out there. It would be exciting to have you. It's a little tough during COVID, but we have the potentiality to handle the size of this project. We're very excited about it. And to that, we would like to to share any questions you might have. But we do appreciate being here this evening. And with that, I will I will conclude out and assume that there could be questions, but we don't see any need to prolong the process. We just would like to thank you this evening and hope to get underway. Thank you. Thank you. Do you have any comments during the speakers list or.
Speaker 6: No, I. I want to.
Speaker 5: Thank the opportunity. We are very excited about this project and we will do the best that our 12 hours of experience dictate.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much. That concludes public comment. I will go back. I have a motion and a second to approve staff recommendation. Councilman Allen.
Speaker 1: All right. Thank you, Mayor. I first want to thank everyone that came out tonight and sitting through a long meeting. And I really appreciate your comments. Also, I want to thank staff or I know it's like two and a half years that they've been working on this. Getting it built out, getting a contractor and finalizing a concession contract was a very long process. I know that folks did reach out to me to talk, but, you know, we need to do this in a public setting like this. It's important that we have good operators in these spaces. And I know that there were a lot of great operators that applied for this concession space. I do trust that the staff followed protocols and so I have some questions with regards to that. I know. I know these operators and I know they're good operators. But, you know, from everything that I saw tonight, it looks like Gaucho Grill landed on top. And from someone who has done hundreds of RFP as of the previous business, I'm definitely lost more than I want. And I and I know it's it's it's it's tough when you when you put a lot of work and equity into time equity into these these processes and and you don't want I know it's tough some of the things that I didn't like what I what I saw was about Gaucho Grill was their extended service hours morning afternoon evening. And I don't know if that seven days a week so if we could clarify that I also liked the grab and go options. I think those are really important. I can tell you as also a resident of the second district and being very in touch with my constituents that I know that that that this low cost options are important. 354 an empanada or $7 for a pizza that's really, really important to to our our residents having that low costs that low cost option. So my first question I just want to talk about the process. Did did did all these groups did did they, in fact, get different criteria or did they all receive the same criteria? Can you just verify can you just clarify that for me?
Speaker 7: Certainly. So, Councilmember, the way that a listing works is that there's an initial packet that Lee and associates that we develop together. And so every one of the proposers receives the same exact packet, which is what I have in front of me. Ultimately, it has what's called the opportunity section, which is a couple of paragraphs. It's narrative in in. So I can assure you that our commercial broker, Leon Associates, has the same information that they provide. And secondly, after the group submits an outline, they would receive what's called a tenant questionnaire. And those are the same roughly eight questions. And I can assure you as well that they're consistent in the same. And what we receive back is different based on what the proposer wants to submit. But what we have provided to Leon Associates does not change throughout the process.
Speaker 1: So do they all receive the same criteria?
Speaker 7: Okay. Yes, the criteria that that is described is what's called the opportunity. Okay. And those are the three ultimately the three paragraphs that are given to everybody. Okay. What the committee then breaks down as their way of assessing the seven things that we were talking about that the committee used as their as they were discussing proposals. That's not something that's that's sent out publicly. It's not published.
Speaker 1: So was a request for an answer?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm sorry, but it's part of what we describe as our tenant questionnaire. So business name, type of business owner experience description of the concept menu or list listing of offerings, overview of the interior and exterior build out, and an estimated costs of improvements and hours of operations. So those were the consistent questions that were used by the group.
Speaker 1: So I'm assuming if there was a if there was any clarification on this RFP and there was a Q&A phase that all of the respondents would have gotten the answers to those questions if there was any clarifying questions to them with regard to privacy.
Speaker 7: And so the question is, was there like with an RFP? So this was a listing. But typically, I think what you're you're suggesting is that there would be questions submitted by all of the proposers, then those questions would be answered in one document and then provided to all of the proposers so that all the information, clarifying information was provided equally. So I'll ask Mary about, given the listing process, if there was ever an F, a queue or a commonly asked question.
Speaker 0: Councilwoman. During the listing process, the brokers fielded the questions mostly on our behalf. So there wasn't a formal question and answer submittal process. They just stuck to the tenant questionnaire to get together the information that the panel requested.
Speaker 1: Okay. And I'm on this. How many people are on this election committee?
Speaker 0: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Yeah. So, so, so. Nine total people across four different departments.
Speaker 1: Okay. And I know my time is up, so I'm going to queue back up.
Speaker 2: Councilman Price.
Speaker 4: I appreciate staff's presentation tonight. Obviously, when we're going through a process like this, city council is not involved for good reason. In fact, it sounds like at least two of the three speakers tonight, our third district resident. So it's it's obviously we want to make sure that it's a fair process. So I appreciate that we're usually not involved in this process. First of all, let me just say I'm very excited about Monte's speech, and I appreciate city staff involve me in the process after they were selected. I clearly wasn't involved in their selection, but I'm very excited about that concept for Granada Beach. In terms of the the Alameda speech stands. The most important thing to me is that it's a fair process. And one of the points that was raised was this issue of return on investment. And I just would ask if staff could expand on that a little bit more, because I think missing Meissner raised some excellent points regarding the rent proposals. And and I realize that wasn't the defining factor. That wasn't the number one criteria, but why wasn't it the number one criteria? And is that accurate to say that the highest. The highest bidder in terms of rent to the city was rejected.
Speaker 7: Yeah, of course. Council member. So, you know, there's, there's a there's a number of different factors that go into the the road calculation. And of course, rent is one of them in terms of how we would calculate the direct economic benefit. But it's not necessarily the price per se, you know, price per square foot that actually leads to the longest term or greatest economic impact. So, um, for instance, in this case, we had some vendors of the vendor who offered the highest rental rate, um, also had the longest term, starting with a 20 year term just out the gate. So instead of five years for us to really see how they're doing, to see how they're performing, um, most of the, the, the proposers had had a shorter five year term plus two, five year extension, so that would be 15 years. The proposer who put down the three, the highest rental rate, asked for 20 years out the gate without a lot of flexibility for us to test the concept, see how they're doing, make adjustments, etc.. So that would have committed the city to 20 years plus to ten years, almost 40 years, which you can imagine is a huge commitment for for a particular tenant, especially in this sector. Um, next, when you look at hours of operation, some of the proposers were very specific about their hours of operation. In fact, the one that was selected had their hours of operation listed going in, presented that to the committee and it represented the most hours of service with the most types of foods that could be provided at different times of day. Some of the proposers didn't even have their hours of operation identified or just partial shifts identified. Others didn't even have breakfast items, so they really couldn't provide food for the breakfast crowd. So when we look across all of the amenities, the hours of operation, the possibility of, you know, monetizing every square foot with different kinds of business activities, all of those calculations would go into and including things like sales tax, there's a possessor interest property tax. There's also jobs associated with these different activities. And some of these activities would require more staff than others. So we do have our own spreadsheets, which we have each of the different proposers listed, and we look across those different categories, those different calculations, and ultimately determine what we believe is the best ROI given the goals and objectives of the City Council.
Speaker 4: Okay. And my time is almost up. I do. The other question that I wanted to ask is how important is this idea of having the different options for this particular location in terms of the grab and go the sit down and then the cafe style? You know, did we do any sort of demographic study and determine that that would be the best? Having those options would be the best concept for the site.
Speaker 7: Mm hmm. Yeah. So Eric Lopez is our Coastal Commission expert. I'll ask him to answer that.
Speaker 2: For this specific area council member. We were looking for varieties and options. As you know, we're building a brand new playground next door. We also have one of the bigger rental spaces that that's also been built. And we know since we've done all of our investments, we're attracting more and more people to this area. This is also going to be the future home of the next. We built a the water place structure that we know is going to attract a lot of people. So we wanted to maximize the options available. Grab and go was super important. Having more than just the traditional sit down options really, really resonated with the with the committee. And it's one of the points that that that that I'm glad we're highlighting.
Speaker 7: And Councilmember.
Speaker 2: If I can add another Time's up. But Coastal Commission.
Speaker 7: Was very specific when we went and applied for this project in the first place.
Speaker 6: We proposed a.
Speaker 7: Restaurant, a sit down restaurant in Coastal, gave us very significant feedback that they didn't want a restaurant, they wanted a really a grab and go. So it was a lot of negotiation to do some type of sit down dining plus.
Speaker 2: Grab and go, puts anything that can just be.
Speaker 7: Low price street prices. That was very important to us that things cost.
Speaker 2: Essentially what it would cost in a.
Speaker 5: Normal.
Speaker 7: Environment. And there's no upcharge.
Speaker 4: And I appreciate you sharing that, Mr. MODICA, because we did go through those discussions with the Belmont Pool early on when we were talking about a cafe in La Palapa had been removed from that location and a lot of people wanted that concept back and we really had to work with Coastal on that. So if we could just go back for a moment to Monty's Beach, I want to thank staff because all I wanted more than anything was some variety between Bay Shore Granada, one of the ones in my district, and you guys have definitely delivered on that. We have a different concept at each concession stand, which is really what I wanted for my district. And so I want to thank you for doing that.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilwoman. Let me go to Councilwoman Mongo.
Speaker 0: Thank you. So I've been through one of these processes that didn't turn out as positive. It didn't get a lot of bidders. And so I have a little bit of different feedback. I want the process to be fair and inclusive. I also really want there to be bidders that really want to be a part of the system. So what I kind of heard today and I want to clarify to make sure that I understand is the three paragraphs really provided the the launch point for people to make their bids? And then the questions were specific to what you put in your bid and therefore no one would get the same questions. Okay. I understand. I think that that needs to be more clear, because with the Eldorado Park project, I think we had a set of similar misunderstandings and and with. At least the one bidder that ended up kind of panning out. He was kind of confused. And so. I guess my next question would be. At the end of the five year term, you talk about testing a concept. It's in my nature to want to negotiate and get the most money for the city. I, of course, would rather have jobs above everything else. And then secondarily would be rent. And then third would be since we only get $0.02 on every dollar sales tax, does it mean at the end of the first five years that there would potentially be a rent increase?
Speaker 7: Yeah, absolutely. Councilmember And I'm actually looking at our spreadsheet now in terms of, of what happens with rent. Um, so in comparing, um, the, the selected proposer, which starts out at about 152,000 a year by year five goes up to 170, almost 172. And by year 15 goes almost to 231,000 a year compared to the group that offered the highest price per square foot out. The gate starts at 178 and ends at about 223. So you can see that that the CPI decrease increases or the escalators that are built in. And then when they're built in, when they're triggered, one is every year. The other one is every five years. And the last thing that I would just just cite in terms of our calculation was that when you include a triple net, when you when you say, I'm going to cover all of my expenditures, we've looked across a lot of our different facilities and where we've structured agreements where the vendor is not responsible for all of their costs, for energy, utilities, etc., then they don't have an incentive to keep those costs down or they don't look for innovation to be energy efficient and other things. So given that the proposers, some of them, you know, proposed that the city would pick up those costs, that's an expense side that really eats into to that margin or that profit. And of course, the selected proposer, they're there absorbing all those costs under a triple net. And that, for us also helps not knowing, given new business concepts, you might have different activities within that facility that drive higher energy costs or drive more costs that the city would have incurred. So again, I just wanted to point out some of those issues, and we can't we don't know exactly where we land at five years , but with that five year option to extend, we will have the opportunity to visit that at that time.
Speaker 0: And I know that construction costs are very concerning right now and permits are very difficult and construction timelines are long. But my biggest pushback on you is June 20, 22. I mean, summer really starts in Long Beach around April, and I see that as a huge missed opportunity. And so anything we can do to encourage and push that this be open at least by Memorial Day, if not sooner. I know that at least on our side of town, the Easter holiday weekend is really a huge launch to outdoor activity in Long Beach. And when I see this proposal, many of you know I'm currently addicted to chocolate croissants. I can't get a chocolate cross on the east side of Long Beach for under a buck 50. I go to Simmons, I got a whole year. I got it. You name every place in my district. A dollar at the beach for croissants is just like a a whimsical. That's 60% of the total cost. So I'm very impressed by this. I plan to make my way down to the new website by June of 2022 and hopefully sooner. And then I would just end by saying, as this process came back to the council, I reached out several times to Mr. Modica and Mr. Brant Dennis of Parks and Rec and multiple times to Mr. Keisler. And I said. What can we do to allow anyone who didn't win this bid to get Eldorado Park? Eldorado Park is an amazing opportunity. We have a ranger station built. There's a huge, beautiful lake with beautiful trees that you could host weddings and all of these other things. And I would just be in love with a proposal for that project to really take on. And. I can't think of a word right now. Activate that space. And with I think the Parks Rec director said over 300,000 visitors a year to Eldorado Park. And with the automation coming and the new gate system, I just see it as the next big thing. So I strongly encourage you to reach out to the city and give your proposal to the other location. And I would love to see us take what we learn from this and be more specific and say for this location we're looking for these hours of operation, this many items at this price point and a five year deal with this much rent. I don't know if we can do that. I feel like that's a little bit more on the side of when I see a for rent sign on a building in the fifth District. They usually know what they want and I don't know that we always know that, but I'm looking forward to an opportunity to get someone into Eldorado Park, and I would be thrilled if we could do that by June of 2022. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you. When we have Councilman Allen and we're going to vote.
Speaker 1: As a thank you, mayor, I just want to say, I think having all of these options in here are going to be really important to two residents. And I really, really like the menu. Like it sounds like a lot of my colleagues do as well. Mr. Kaiser, can you the you know, I'm always a big advocate of the local hire and in contracting locally, can you explain to me I know you had it on your report just really briefly about the state local preference. And can you explain to me like how that works? Our lack of local preference, I should say.
Speaker 7: Yeah. I was going to actually ask our city attorney to just clarify the law.
Speaker 2: Sure, I'd.
Speaker 7: Be happy to.
Speaker 2: Mayor and council members. The the some people have mentioned.
Speaker 7: That Long Beach, Munich had 2.84.030, which.
Speaker 3: Actually says that.
Speaker 2: Local.
Speaker 7: Preference cannot be given in the expenditure.
Speaker 2: Of tidelands funds. Arguably, that's not applicable here because no Tidelands funds are being expended. However, the granting statutes from.
Speaker 5: 1911 and there were others in the twenties and.
Speaker 2: Thirties that granted Long Beach, the Tidelands.
Speaker 5: Funds and the interpretive.
Speaker 2: Cases.
Speaker 7: That interpret those.
Speaker 2: Statutes, statutes make it very clear that local preference.
Speaker 7: Can't be given in the operation.
Speaker 2: Of tidelands areas, that.
Speaker 7: They need to be for the benefit of all Californians.
Speaker 2: And not just.
Speaker 7: People from the.
Speaker 5: Local jurisdiction or the title on DA.
Speaker 1: All right. Thank you very much for that clarification. And lastly, I just want to say, I want to congratulate Gaucho Grill for successfully winning this, and I will be supporting Star's recommendation.
Speaker 2: There's a motion in the second to support staff recommendation. Members we scored Castro votes.
Speaker 1: Motion carries.
Speaker 2: Thank you. I will be moving on now to the next item, which will be item number 25.
Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to enter into Beach Concession Agreements with Monty's Beach, a California limited liability company, and Downey Restaurant Company, Inc., dba Gaucho Grill, for the operation of a food concession at Granada Beach and Alamitos Beach, respectively, on the stated terms and conditions, including options to renew at the discretion of the City Manager; and 

Authorize City Manager, or designee, to negotiate and execute any necessary modifications to the proposed terms that may be necessary to expedite establishment of the beach concessions operation.  (Districts 2,3)