Thumbnail photo by Gavin Van Alstine
Two years after the Crescent City Harbor District entered into a settlement agreement with Fashion Blacksmith, the parties negotiated a revision that reduces the district’s payment for this year and divides it into two installments.
Reporting out from a closed session meeting on Wednesday, Board President Rick Shepherd said CCHD will pay a total of $162,500 to its former tenant in two installments of $62,500 and $100,000 this year. The Harbor District was due to pay $362,500 to Fashion Blacksmith, Shepherd said.
According to the agreement, the remaining portion of the CCHD’s payment this year will be amortized over the remaining terms of the settlement agreement, between 2027 and 2034 with 5% interest.
“We’re thankful for Ted for working with the district and helping us through this time that we restructure our debt,” Shepherd said after he and his colleagues voted unanimously in favor of the amendment.
Shepherd’s Vice Chair John Evans also thanked Fashion Blacksmith owner Ted Long for “understanding our financial difficulties” and being willing to work with the Harbor District.
The Crescent City Harbor District entered into a settlement agreement with Fashion Blacksmith, which had been a tenant for 40 years, in 2024.
Two years prior Long filed a complaint in Del Norte County Superior Court accusing the Harbor District of breach of contract because it did not maintain a depth of 18 feet below its Synchrolift — a wooden platform that lifts boats onto land for maintenance work. Fashion Blacksmith also stated that the Harbor District had failed to maintain the building.
In 2023, arbitrators found that Fashion Blacksmith had lost about $3.3 million in revenue because Long couldn’t use the Synchrolift. In 2021, 2022 and 2023, the business lost an estimated $1.3 million in profits.
In 2023, Long told commissioners that if dredging wasn’t completed in 2023, he would have to close his business and would lose about $3.5 million in future profits.
The state arbitration panel in June 2023 ordered CCHD to pay Fashion Blacksmith about $1.3 million in damages and to dredge to a depth of 18 feet under the Synchrolift. In August 2023, the Harbor District Board approved a resolution to make that payment in equal installments over 10 years.
The $2.6 million settlement agreement finalized in March 2024 sought to compensate Fashion Blacksmith for its projected profits had the business served out the remainder of its 12 year lease, according to a March 2024 Harbor District press release.
According to the amendment to the settlement agreement commissioners approved Wednesday, the first installment of $62,500 would be paid to Fashion Blacksmith within five calendar days, while the remaining $100,000 would be paid within 45 calendar days.
Before the Board voted on the agreement, Harbormaster Mike Rademaker also thanked Long for his “reasonableness.”
