Bonnet House negotiations resume
State agency’s push to manage historic site ignites strong emotions
There’s hope for a resolution to the acrimonious standoff between Bonnet House and the historic trust that wants to take over its management: The two sides are returning to the negotiating table.
Lawyers are still figuring out the parameters of the discussions, but Patrick Shavloske, the house’s chief executive officer, said mediation soon will recommence.
“We are encouraged [the trust is] coming back to the table,” Shavloske said Thursday.
The Florida Trust for Historic Preservation, which owns the Fort Lauderdale mansion’s land and buildings and seeks a more active management role, declared an impasse last month during previous mediation efforts. The trust’s efforts to take control from the local board that manages the property have ignited strong emotions from supporters of the estate at 900 N. Birch Road, a vestige of Old Florida amid the hotels and condominiums of Fort Lauderdale beach.
Day-to-day operations at Bonnet House have not changed, and the estate is still open for tours and special events.
The house, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, dates back to 1920, when artist Frederic Clay Bartlett and his second wife, Helen Louise Birch, began construction. Bartlett’s third wife, Evelyn Fortune Bartlett, donated the estate, which stretches from the ocean to the Intracoastal Waterway, to the trust in 1983.
Bonnet House Inc., the locally appointed board, owns the house’s art and furniture and operates the property as a tourist attraction and special-event venue that brings in about 70,000 visitors a year. The board has been trying to reduce the amount of money the house supplies to the trust from its current $150,000 a year, which the board says is desperately needed on-site to repair the aging estate.
Bonnet House has sought help to avoid the takeover from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, based in Washington, D.C. The national trust monitors the Florida Trust’s stewardship of the land and Bonnet House documents require the national organization to remedy failures of the Florida Trust to carry out its responsibilities. The national trust urged the Florida trust to return to mediation, chief
legal officer Tom Mayes said last week.
On Sept. 26, a Florida trust lawyer ordered the house to hand over its operating funds, bank accounts, information about vendors and employees, and inventory and title to items at the estate. The demand infuriated some Bonnet House supporters, including Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis, who asked Gov. Ron DeSantis to intervene to prevent the takeover.
Trust President Ryan Malloy said the governor has no power to halt the trust’s plans. He said the trust will continue its efforts to take over management.
“The Florida Trust will accomplish this transition by exercising its contractual right to terminate its historic property agreement with Bonnet House, Inc., for management and operation of the Bonnet House property,” Malloy said in a letter to Trantalis this week.
Trantalis said Thursday he will meet with Florida Trust representatives next week, but he said he has not changed his mind about the importance of local stewardship of the house. He believes the trust has allowed the house to fall into disrepair as it siphons money away from the property.
“We slapped their hand as they were trying to dip into the cookie jar,” Trantalis said.
In his letter to the governor, Trantalis described Bonnet House as the Florida Trust’s “piggy bank.” The house provides 64 percent of the trust’s budget.
“To imply that the Florida Trust has stolen money from the Bonnet House is wrong,” Malloy wrote. “There is a historic property agreement that is in place and the terms of that agreement are clear.”
Malloy vowed that the trust, a nonprofit based in Tallahassee, will remain faithful to saving the state’s historic legacy.
“It has been and will continue to be our mission to promote the preservation of the architectural, historical and archaeological heritage of Florida,” he wrote.