In Nantucket, a very seasonal legal spat has broken out: the billionaire owner of $6.5 million cottage wants to stop a clam bar from opening 18 inches from his 1,200-square-foot home.
Charles Johnson, former owner of the San Francisco Giants and chairman of investment giant Franklin Resources, has been fighting with his new neighbour: Straight Wharf Fish Market.
Clapboard restaurant serving New England IPAs and clam rolls is located amongst the charming cottages on the Old North Wharf of Nantucket Town.
Johnson complained about Straight Wharf, and specifically its proposal to begin selling beer and wines, which could disrupt the peace in the New England enclave located 30 miles off Cape Cod.
The Old Wharf area is renowned for its central location, but also for the value of the cabins. A few thousand square feet could fetch up to $10,000,000.
On the tiny island, which Herman Melville described as an “elbow” of sand, there is a dispute that has pitted neighbor against neighbor.
Charles Schwab of discount brokerage, also a summer resident, was briefly against the seafood shack. He has since changed his mind.
The story began when two local chef’s set out to open a restaurant. They received approval from the island select board for a license.
Johnson circulated a list with suggested talking points to encourage his neighbors to take action against the shack. The letters flew. The neighborhood associations murmured. Eventually, attorneys were called.
Johnson filed a lawsuit to appeal the final decision of the board when it approved the license.
After months of back and forth, it seemed that a solution was finally in sight by mid-August. Johnson has been reported to be in talks for a tentative settlement to end his lawsuit, provided Straight Wharf removed what he considers an unsightly, bulky mechanical system on second floor of wharf building facing his front yard.
Kevin Burleson said that there was an agreement in place for the agreement. Johnson did not respond to a comment request sent through his attorney. Johnson’s case was still pending as of Friday.
In July, Johnson told The Nantucket Current that his opposition had been misinterpreted. He said he wasn’t against the two locals who wanted to open a fish shack. He said that a wealthy developer owned the wharf and was causing the conflict by raising the temperature.
Johnson said that the conflict was more like “a billionaire against a billionaire.”
Steve Karp, the developer of Nantucket Island Resorts in question, told an interviewer that he has been in touch with Johnson, and is not trying to “get into a fight with him.” The situation, he said, had been exaggerated.
Karp asked, “Why should you care about the little fish market in Nantucket?” It is a little, small restaurant on Nantucket – and it’s become a national story.
Other billionaires who own homes in Nantucket include former Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt and Blackstone Inc.’s Steve Schwarzman, who was Reportedly behind the largest home sale on the island in history.
Schwab seems to be willing to give Straight Wharf another try. After learning that the restaurant would not have live music, he changed his mind.
In an email sent to island officials, Steven Cohen, an attorney for Schwab, stated that “we all look forward to enjoying fresh clam rolls and cold soft-serve ice cream twist cones on the harbor.”