Annapolis Seafood Co. withdrew its offer to take over the vacant Market House yesterday, saying it doesn't want to be caught in a political battle this election season.

Alan Hyatt, an attorney for the seafood company, sent a letter to Mayor Ellen O. Moyer requesting the city void its lease for the landmark building.

"The decision was made that it was best not to go forward," he said in an interview. "There's too much animosity for a smart businessman to participate in."

The withdrawal, the second this month from a prospective tenant, will likely keep the public market at City Dock empty into 2006.

New York grocer Dean & DeLuca dropped out after a long courtship by the city. Before its departure, the gourmet chain formed a partnership with Annapolis Seafood, which had been asking the City Council to ratify the 20-year lease already negotiated and signed.

But the acrimony on display at Tuesday's meeting of the council's Economic Matters Committee, when two aldermen demanded an investigation of the Dean & DeLuca deal, scared off Annapolis Seafood owner Nick Bassford. He was there to present his ideas for taking over the building.

Mr. Bassford wasn't available for comment yesterday, but Mr. Hyatt said Annapolis Seafood is "not being evaluated on the merits of its own intentions."

"There would be considerable risk of litigation, delay and the potential to become involved in a controversy that would not be commercially expedient," he wrote to the city.

Ms. Moyer called Tuesday's meeting and subsequent loss of Annapolis Seafood "an embarrassment."

"The treatment (they) afforded this gentleman, a local businessman ... They asked him to come to a meeting where they told him to shut up," said Ms. Moyer, who did not attend the council session.

Ms. Moyer accused Alderwoman Louise Hammond, D-Ward 1, and Alderman George O. Kelley Sr., R-Ward 4, who is running against her in this fall's mayoral race, of launching the Market House probe to discredit her re-election effort.

"They're not interested in this market," she said. "They're interested in a political campaign."

Administration officials have said the lease was legitimate despite Dean & DeLuca's departure, and said the city would do well to take the local company's offer. It followed the same terms to pay $1 million to renovate the structure and deliver up to $300,000 a year in rent to the town.

But other challengers say the way the city has handled the Market House reveals diplomatic shortcomings in the current administration.

"This is just Ellen's new refrain: Instead of indicating that there's something actually wrong, she just calls it a political attack," said Gilbert Renaut, a downtown resident running as an independent in this year's mayoral race. "Yes, (the council members) are making political points, but that's completely immaterial to whether they're true or not."

Mr. Renaut said rumors continue to abound about the city's role in the Dean & DeLuca deal, which was negotiated between City Administrator Bob Agee and the New York company in private over the winter. Some administration critics suspect Dean & DeLuca was looking to drop out of the deal as early as last fall, and believe administration officials arranged to have Annapolis Seafood take over the reins.

"Because it was kept secret, we don't know what happened," Mr. Renaut said.

The closed Market House has become a liability in the Nov. 8 race among some residents, Ms. Moyer conceded.

"People do tend to look at whatever the most recent controversy is," she said. "But we've made positive changes in the city and tackled the tough issues, and that's what I'm running my campaign on."

Alderwoman Hammond declined to comment yesterday, saying she had not seen the letter from Annapolis Seafood. Mr. Kelley could not be reached for comment at his home.

Back on the market

The cost of losing Annapolis Seafood's contract is unclear. City finance officials hadn't budgeted for any rental payments on the building until January, nearly a year after the old independent tenants' leases expired and the city spent $900,000 overhauling the exterior. The building still requires about $1 million in interior work, which Ms. Moyer said may have to be footed by taxpayers.

But other council members said the withdrawal of Annapolis Seafood gives the city a chance to start clean on the selection by putting the Market House contract up for bid again.

"It's the solution I was leaning toward," said Alderman David Cordle, R-Ward 5.

He added awarding the bid to Annapolis Seafood may have left the city open to a lawsuit from Site Realty Group, whose bid was passed over last year for Dean & DeLuca's.

"If we open up another (request for proposals), we give everyone another shot," Mr. Cordle said. "It's the equitable thing to do."

Mr. Hyatt said he wasn't sure if Annapolis Seafood would bid on the Market House in a new round, a process that will likely take months.

Other interest

But officials for Site Realty, which runs the Eastern Market in Washington, D.C., said yesterday they're still interested in taking over and renting stall spaces to local vendors. That's similar to Annapolis Seafood, which planned to showcase local flower sellers and other businesses in addition its own crab cakes and other products.

"We hope the city will come back to us," said Richard Cohen, a lawyer for the company. He said the group may be willing to pay for renovations.

Mr. Cohen said Site Realty has offered space at the Market House to Annapolis Seafood.

"That offer still stands," he said.

The search for another Market House management company will need to be done more openly, Mr. Cordle said. The terms of the original contract with Dean & DeLuca were negotiated privately over the winter by city officials before the lease went to Mrs. Hammond and Mr. Kelley's committee for review and final amendments.

"There was a failure to properly manage (bidding) and the lease process," Mr. Cordle said. "It gave an out to Dean & DeLuca. ... The new process has to be more open, because right or wrong, it gave the perception (of wrongdoing)."

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Published August 27, 2005, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Copyright © 2005 The Capital, Annapolis, Md.