VERO BEACH — Steve Mulvey, whose grandparents were once co-owners of the Brooklyn Dodgers, remembers when the end of what is now Royal Palm Pointe was home to the Sea Gull Motel and Marina.
Today it’s not seagulls but Quail claiming the prized waterfront spot that was most recently Lobster Shanty.
Last week, Mulvey and his Quail Valley Club partner Kevin Given closed on the one-acre property, ending speculation on the future of the site of the recently closed Lobster Shanty restaurant: other than the occasional charity event, their proposed hotel and restaurant will be restricted to use by club members and their guests, and not be available to the public at large.
According to Mulvey and Given, multiple dining and lodging options will make Quail Valley “one of the most unique clubs in the state of Florida.”
The pair intends to tear down the old Lobster Shanty restaurant to build a 16-room lodge and restaurant. Its proposed granite and wood façade is “something you’d see in Newport, Rhode Island, or Nantucket,” he says, reeling off two ultra-affluent destinations sure to be familiar to the membership of Quail Valley.
Assuming that the Vero Planning and Zoning Board gives its approval following a hearing Dec. 4, Given says groundbreaking should begin in February with the project completion date set for early 2016.
While refusing to say what Quail paid for the property, Given disputed quotes from Lobster Shanty management that the New Jersey brothers who owned the property, as well as Mr. Manatee and another Lobster Shanty in Cocoa Beach, were made an offer they couldn’t refuse.
But the state documentary stamp tax paid on the real estate transaction indicate a purchase price of about $3.5 million.
The 1.02 acre property is listed with the property appraiser’s office at $1.4 million fair market value, with the land valued at $888,000. The last appraisal shown was in December 2012.
