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Weeki Wachee Mermaids' Landlord Terminates Lease

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By TONY MARRERO, Hernando Today

Published: August 8, 2007

WEEKI WACHEE - The mermaids are living month to month.

Weeki Wachee Springs officials announced Tuesday that the Southwest Florida Water Management District, which owns the land under the park, has terminated the attraction's lease but has offered to put the park on a month-to-month tenancy.

The park was six years into a 30-year lease, with an annual rent of $258,000 paid in two installments.

Weeki Wachee spokesman John Athanason said the attraction is paying the monthly rent 'under protest' but isn't acknowledging the new lease terms.

'As far as we're concerned, we're still adhering to the 30-year lease,' Athanason said.

The district, known as Swiftmud, notified the attraction that the lease 'automatically terminated' on May 10, according to a letter written June 29 by Joseph Ward, Swiftmud's assistant general counsel.

On May 10, Weeki Wachee filed a counterclaim in court to stop the district from enforcing the lease, said Swiftmud spokesman Michael Molligan.

The lease gives Swiftmud the right to terminate if the tenant takes such an action, Molligan said.

'It's a clear violation,' Molligan said.

Florida law also gives the district the right to require Weeki Wachee to 'give up possession of the premises' and to 'demand double rent' if the attraction refuses, Ward wrote in the letter.

As an alternative to that, however, the district is 'willing to allow' Weeki Wachee to continue on the month-to-month tenancy, Ward wrote.

The lease began July 1 with monthly payments of $21,562.50 plus sales tax. 'This is a way to force their hand' and end a nearly four-year battle between the district and Weeki Wachee, Molligan said.

If the lease cannot be renegotiated, the district will ask the state to take over the 60-year-old attraction, Molligan said. If not, the district will ask the same of the county. If that fails, the district would seek bids from private companies to run the park.

Joe Mason, attorney for Weeki Wachee, called the district's legal position 'utter nonsense.'

The lease does not give Swiftmud the power to make such a move, he said. The park only asked the court to stop the district's attempts to terminate the lease in violation of the document's terms, he said.

As well, the district must give notice if the attraction somehow has defaulted on its lease on the 27-acre parcel and then give park management time to correct the problem, Mason said.

'They've just decided, 'We don't have to do that; we can terminate the lease anyway,'' Mason said.

Mason and Athanason contend that the attraction has adhered to the letter of the lease. The park has made payments on time and spent nearly $1 million to clean up and improve safety after years of neglect, Athanason said.

'For Swiftmud, it's just one step closer to the termination of this lease and doing whatever they want,' Athanason said.

Swiftmud filed suit in March 2004, claiming the attraction defaulted on its lease.

The district questioned whether state law allows the city of Weeki Wachee to own the attraction. Even if it does, the district argues that it would have to approve the deal.

Swiftmud also claims that the attraction harmed the land when it removed sand from the area near the spring last year.

Weeki Wachee officials maintain the ownership arrangement is legal and that it was just trying to maintain the spring by removing the sand. They want the court to order Swiftmud to stop its attempt to terminate the lease.

The two parties are scheduled to meet for a status conference with Marion County Senior Circuit Judge William Swigert on Aug. 16. Hernando Judge Richard Tombrink, who had been on the case, recused himself after Mason contended Tombrink was biased against the attraction. Tombrink said that was not so but turned the case over anyway.

Swiftmud plans to ask Swigert for a summary judgment on that date. Otherwise, a trial tentatively is set for Aug. 21.

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