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Billionaire Charles Johnson has sued a clam shack to stop it from opening next door to his $6.5 million Nantucket cottage.
Bloomberg reported that Johnson, owner of the San Francisco Giants and former chair of investment firm Franklin Resources, urged his neighbors to oppose the development of Straight Wharf Fish Market.
In a pending lawsuit against the restaurant, the Town of Nantucket, and the Alcohol Beverages Control Committee, Johnson argued that the eatery, and especially its plans to sell beer and wine, would cause traffic, noise, congestion, and parking problems. He also said it would disturb neighbors on the Massachusetts island, a seasonal resort for the wealthy, which counts Charles Schwab and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt among its residents.
Johnson, who owns at least three other properties on the island and is estimated to be worth almost $5.5 billion, previously told The Nantucket Current that he wasn't trying to take down local restauranteurs.
"It's a billionaire versus a billionaire," Johnson said. Steve Karp, the CEO of Nantucket Island Resorts, owns a property empire, including the proposed clam shack restaurant on Straight Wharf, the publication reported.
Kevin Burleson, co-owner of the restaurant, told Bloomberg that Johnson was in discussions to potentially drop the lawsuit if the venue removed a mechanical system on the building that faces his front yard. "There has been an agreement for the agreement," Burleson told the publication.
Johnson had previously told The Current that he would end his litigation if the device was moved elsewhere on the building. He told the publication he thought the contraption was the exhaust vent for the restaurant's kitchen and would release fumes and noise into his yard.
"It's 18 inches from my bedroom," Johnson told The Current. "And my wife is allergic to fish."
Gabriel Frasca, the restaurant's other co-owner, told the publication that the contraption was actually part of the restaurant's HVAC system.
"I don't want to carry a grudge," Johnson told The Current. But he expressed concerns that after the restaurant opened, it could potentially ask for a liquor license and then open a small bar. "I'm afraid of the creep from it," he said.
The restauranteurs had applied for a license to open a restaurant with 48 seats inside and 14 seats outside on the dock, as well as a license to serve wine and malt beverages, which was approved by the Nantucket Select Board.
Fresca told the board in March that they wanted to return the building to a fish market in one half and a clam shack in the other, with no amplified music, a 10 p.m. closing time, and no liquor, just beer and wine.
Attorney Danielle DeBenedictis had told the board that the Johnson Family and Harvey Jones, a tech executive and venture capitalist who also lives nearby, had no objection to a fish store, ice-cream shop, or takeout, but did object to a sit-down restaurant, saying that "the community doesn't need any more." She urged the board not to approve the license request, or at least to deny outdoor dining and entertainment, and also suggested a 7 p.m. closing time.
The site of the proposed Straight Wharf Fish Market is 18 inches from Johnson's cottage, "Omega," which Bloomberg valued at $6.5 million. Though he doesn't reside at the property himself during the summer, Johnson told The Current that the cottage was "used by family, noting that his 17 grandchildren "line up to stay there."
Karp and DeBenedictis, Johnson's attorney, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
