Angler's Lodge Part One: What's Really Going On Here?

As you may have heard, a little dust up is brewing over the fate of The Angler’s Lodge, the neglected circa 1915 structure located across from Bayfront Park just to the north of the humpback bridge on North Bay Street. The building and property upon which it sits are currently owned by Karl and Agatha Hebebrand. The parcel is currently listed for sale. The fate of the structure has ebbed and flowed the last few years like the tide at Bean Point with everyone agreeing it needs saving but no consensus or viable plan as to how to make that happen. There are plots and subplots and inevitable finger pointing about the who’s, the what’s and the where’s of the dusty jewel’s immediate future.

The story unfortunately pits the Anna Maria Island Historical Society ("AMIHS") and its unmarred twenty-year record of service and lauded accomplishments against a former AMIHS director whose recent passion for preservation has led her, oddly, to cozy allegiances with the multi-tentacled forces of aggressive no-holds-barred development here in Anna Maria. The story is far from over but some background and context may assist in clarifying one’s understanding of where it is all headed and how it should be resolved. A few things before we start: the AMIHS and its members are huge Angler's Lodge fans and they have publicly pledged their significant time, talent and resources to securing and ensuring its preservation. We'll talk more about that in Part Two. Second, this is a long piece, sorry. It's a long story. And, full disclosure, AMIHS's Executive Director happens to be my mother. Make your own assumptions about what that means to you in relation to what you'll read here. But these are my thoughts not hers and facts are facts, right is right and wrong is wrong. So have at it. Join us after hitting the "Please Read More" link just below...


Sissy Quinn stays busy. Since coming to the island she has rarely been idle. She did a stint at the Chamber of Commerce but her inability to show a little patience with curious tourists led to her moving on to The Artists Guild. The personality mix did not go well there either. She then found her way to AMIHS. When she was removed from her position as Executive Director a while back, she apparently decided she liked having an historical preservation gig so much she just started her own, a 501(c)(3) non-profit company called the Anna Maria Island Preservation Trust, Inc. As president, she named by “appointment” City Commissioner Joanne Mattick as secretary/treasurer of the company and Bradenton Beach real estate sage David Teitelbaum as vice president. Teitelbaum has preservation experience from his days in New York City so his inclusion is not surprising in itself, but the story does become more interesting.

But before we talk about the fun and excitement surrounding the coming showdown over the Angler’s Lodge and its new location, if any, let’s clear up some things regarding Quinn’s organization. Though she and the local press casually refer to the company as a “trust” it is no such thing. A trust (a thank you to law.com's definition HERE) is a specific legal “entity created to hold assets for the benefit of certain persons or entities, with a trustee managing the trust (and often holding title on behalf of the trust). Most trusts are founded by the persons (called trustors, settlors and/or donors) who execute a written declaration of trust which establishes the trust and spells out the terms and conditions upon which it will be conducted.” Trustees typically have named successors responsible for the future health and viability of the assets or “corpus” of the trust. Trustees also have specific and defined legal obligations requiring them to act in the best interests of the trust, its assets and its beneficiaries. The Anna Island Preservation Trust, Inc. is not a trust. It is a company, with shareholders and officers, that just calls itself a trust. Quinn’s position in the company is not as a trustee. She is the president of a non-profit corporate entity responsible only to her shareholders and, as a 501(c)(3), to the Internal Revenue Service. Her company can certainly participate in forming a trust and appointing trustees and then doing all of the things trusts do but there is no indication any of that is being done currently.

Quinn says she has cut a deal with the Hebebrands for possession, so to speak, of the Angler’s Lodge building. There appears to be nothing in the public record to indicate any formalized agreement providing Quinn’s company with an enforceable priority claim to the structure. But assuming she does have an understanding with the owners, to make that deal happen she is jockeying to have the structure moved to city owned property somewhere on the island after the Hebebrands donate it to her company. The concept goes something like this: As long as the donated building winds up on city property, apparently any property in any city but that detail is not clear, the Hebebrands get a nifty tax benefit and Quinn’s company gets a building it then has to move, renovate and maintain in perpetuity, which means well after any of us will find its cool old walls personally useful as a civic treasure. Of course, Quinn’s company also has to pay to move, to renovate and to maintain the building or convince someone or a few someones to give her company the money to do those things. As you may imagine we are talking a very large stack of dollars. And in the immortal words of Paul Harvey, “Now, the rest of the story…”

Quinn made an initial presentation to the City Commission last week. There were more questions than answers and no definitive plans from Quinn as to how it will all happen, not even close really. Most prominent in many minds is where the heck she expects to get the money. A year ago she claimed to be starting “a capital campaign” to raise funds but apparently that has not happened to any significant degree, at least she has not said publicly. Then in September 2009 she began actively seeking contributions through an account at Whitney Bank. That was nearly 10 months ago and one would suspect at least some donation activity for such a highly visible project. But when the AMIHS recently stepped to the plate and offered an initial $1,000 pledge specifically for use in the preservation of Angler’s Lodge they were informed that Quinn was not yet prepared to accept donations. Really? What happened to the “capital campaign” and that Whitney Bank account? She’s turning down green dollars from a sister preservation organization for a project she claims must move forward quickly? It all seems a bit disjointed and mysterious to say the least. To their credit the City Commission did voice concern over the many unanswered questions and appear unwilling to move forward without answers.

However, in spite of the questions, there is a quiet but purposeful push by a few folks to somehow cram the old building into the only remaining chunk of green space on Pine Avenue, the nature park at the Historical Society location. I say “a few folks” because that is exactly what it is…a few. And in the inevitable circle of life in this city lately, all roads lead to PAR, at least that’s what they would have us believe, and this circumstance appears no different.

The connections seem unending:

Several years ago, PAR floated plans to turn the Angler’s Lodge into some sort of hotel/multi-use facility connected with its development of the empty lots across from the City Pier. The City said “no way” and that quickly went away. PAR then claimed to hold an option on the property (though nothing in the public records substantiates the claim) and Micheal Coleman famously chided the City last April for not accepting the building as a $1.5 million “gift” from PAR, even though PAR didn’t own it to gift it in the first place. Later, Jane Coleman, Micheal’s wife, took a publicity tour of the place as an “advisor” to Quinn’s new company.

Noted local and accomplished preservation architect Gene Aubry, he of PAR projects and PAR Pine Avenue parking efforts, recently sent an email (you can read it HERE) to the City, detailing some concerns regarding a drawing he whipped up showing the Angler’s Lodge wedged into the Historical Society’s current and planned expansion of its native plant sanctuary. Aubry’s drawing was made at Quinn’s behest and without the Historical Society’s knowledge or input (and apparently without much investigation by Aubry or the use of his drafting table…but we’ll talk about that in Part 2).

Aubry’s wife Janet has professed in City commission minutes to “work for” PAR and has, she says, “been at work for a while now” with Quinn and others on preservation issues including, she says, the Angler’s Lodge.

WELD, Inc. is the company through which Ed Chiles runs the Sandbar Restaurant and the rest of his Wedding World at the Gulf end of Spring Avenue. ELRA, Inc. does business as Chiles’ Beachhouse Restaurant. Last June, after apparently coughing up the necessary $100 fee for a black marble plaque, WELD, Chiles and The Sandbar were the honored recipients of the very first preservation award from Quinn’s company. In response to the award Chiles also stated, “We join Sissy Quinn in our commitment to...the Anglers Lodge."

Richard LaRoche is the Tennessee based investor in PAR. He keeps a low profile and apparently prefers Chiles and Coleman to visit him up there to discuss company business as the two of them recently did.

David Teitelbaum, remember, is Quinn’s Vice President. He also runs Teitelbaum Development, Inc., and along with Alan Galletto, holds the listing on PAR’s Pine Avenue residentail/commercial condo projects.

Ricinda Perry is the multi-hatted lawyer who moonlights as Bradenton Beach’s City Attorney in what little spare time she has between representing PAR against the City and PAR’s retained felon in that public records boondoggle.

Finally, Coleman himself recently summoned, yes summoned, an Historical Society representative to his office and, true to form, essentially inquired why there would ever, could ever, be any objection to Quinn’s endeavor being shoved down the Historical Society’s throat, especially, one wonders, since it has been blessed by the Pope of Pine Avenue himself.

So what does this all of have to do with The Angler’s Lodge, you ask? Well, on June 16th, County Commissioner John Chappie sent a letter to the city commissioners you can read HERE detailing his support for saving the Angler’s Lodge which, he said, “will entail its relocation to Pine Avenue at the City of Anna Maria Historic Park.” Chappie’s district encompasses the City of Anna Maria so his “support” for historic preservation here comes as no surprise. His blind assumption that the Historical Society’s park would be an appropriate destination for the structure, an assumption he made without first consulting AMIHS officials or apparently even the City, should be no surprise either. Sissy Quinn was an active and close campaign aid in Chappie’s last election. And every single one of the individuals and entities detailed above, each with significant ties to PAR and most to Quinn’s Angler’s Lodge effort, were significant financial contributors to Chappie’s last campaign, accounting for almost $4,000 in campaign contributions in the months leading up to his election. That’s 10% of the total he raised from third parties. (Take a look for yourself HERE ).

Understand, there is nothing illegal or untoward about contributing to the candidate of one’s choice. Most of us do it. That’s America. And by all accounts Chappie represents the interests of Anna Maria dutifully.

But there is something more going on here than election dollars and Sissy Quinn calling in campaign favors. Micheal Coleman clearly determined long ago that The Angler’s Lodge was going to be a part of Micheal Coleman’s Pine Avenue and he determined where he wanted it to be. He couldn’t get the zoning to make it a hotel, he couldn’t get it done through a bogus smoke-and-mirrors “gift” to the City but he was going to get it done.

Yes folks, this about PAR’s hubristic culture of money and power, influence and will. Whether it’s zoning or density, parking or set-backs, or even the Angler’s Lodge with so many unanswered and unanswerable questions, this is about Micheal Coleman’s sense of entitlement and his determination to use other people’s money and power and influence to impose his will on Pine Avenue as he sees fit and when he sees fit regardless of what is lost or destroyed. Ordinances be damned. Green space be damned. Safety be damned. Commissioners be damned.

And citizens be damned.

All the best to the best.

Bill Yanger

P.S. Check back for Part 2 coming soon. We'll talk about the AMIHS's contrasting ability to actually answer questions and provide  information in real and quantifiable ways. Yes, the Angler's Lodge is near and dear to them. But so is all they have been able to accomplish and build in the last 20 years.