The town attorney notified the Fort Myers Beach town council that lawsuits to begin foreclosure proceedings against several property owners on the beach will be filed this week. Those property owners will be served with their lawsuits next week.
As we previously reported, the town is going after 4 property owners on the beach who they say consistently and repeatedly snub their noses after receiving multiple code violations. And, some are making money off of the properties in violation.
Sunset Grill owner Terry Persaud is the town’s biggest target. Persaud owns two of the five properties the town is targeting. The parking lot adjacent to Sunset grill in Times Square has seven town code enforcement liens recorded against the property, three dating back to March of 2019. Those three liens since 2019 have fines totaling $60,100 and continue to accrue every day.
Persaud was hit with a fourth lien in June of 2019 with an accrued fine of $80,050. The fifth lien was slapped on the property in February of 2020 and is now at $44,824 with $250 added every day. The sixth and seventh liens began in March of 2021 and are up to $10,575 and $9,575 respectively.
On this parking lot property alone Persaud is sitting at over $205,000 in fines with more being added on every day.
The town also has two liens on Persaud’s restaurant, The Sunset Grill. The first lien began in 2019 and is now at $11,750. The second lien began in March of 2021 and sits at $9,975 with $250 being added every day.
Persaud is being accused by the town of renting beach chairs without a permit, violating the town’s sign ordinance, operating an unapproved parking lot and operating a dumpster without a screen.
Persaud says the town is bullying and targeting him and he is fighting back against the town coming after him.
The third property the town plans to foreclose on is the Key Estero Shops parking lot. Beach residents know the lot from the $40.00 per day parking signs across from the Sea Gypsy. The town has accused the owner of operating an illegal parking lot and they put a lien on his property in September of 2020. The fines now sit at $34,475 and $200 is added to that total every day.
The fourth property is at 80 Avenue East owned by White Sand Properties. On this property the town has gone after them for working without a permit and having an unsafe structure. The town has three code violations against the property dating back to 2016 and 2019. As of March 2019 the fines had already exceeded $250,000 and $250 was being added to that every day.
The fifth property is 268/270 Nature View Court, owned by Dania Carballo Ortiz and Daisy Garcia. Violations here include work done without permits and renting the property repeatedly for less than 7 days. The town has multiple code violations on this property. Two began in October of 2020 and now total over $56,000 each, with $250 being added every day. A third lien was recorded in 2021 with fines over $21,000. All in, this property is now over $124,000 in fines with $250 being added every day.