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Billionaire involved in Nantucket clam shack battle: This is no David vs. Goliath story
A proposed Nantucket restaurant has become the center of a debate between two billionaires.
The latest chapter in the ongoing saga of billionaires battling over a Nantucket clam shack was written last week when Charles Johnson walked into the office of The Nantucket Current to tell his side of the story to local reporters.
Johnson, a 90-year-old who made his fortune heading investment firm Franklin Resources, is also the principal owner of the San Francisco Giants. A seasonal resident of Old North Wharf, Johnson has made headlines this year for his opposition to Straight Wharf Fish Market, a proposed restaurant directly next to his property.
In a lawsuit filed in May, Johnson asked Nantucket Superior Court to overturn the restaurant’s liquor license because, in part, officials ignored “traffic, noise, congestion, and parking” problems. Johnson also claimed that the conversion of a retail fish market to a sit-down restaurant with an entertainment license would create a “deleterious effect on the abutting residential neighborhood.”
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As the dispute made national headlines, Johnson took umbrage with the perceived narrative surrounding the issue. It has been mischaracterized as a story of a wealthy villain waging war against local restaurateurs, he told the Current.
Instead, “it’s a billionaire versus a billionaire,” he told the Current.
Johnson was reportedly referring to Steve Karp, the billionaire in charge of Nantucket Island Resorts. Karp, who owns many properties on the island including that of the proposed clam shack restaurant, used his public relations team to spread a David vs. Goliath narrative, Johnson told the outlet.
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Johnson and Karp connected earlier this year over the phone in an effort to hash out concerns about the new restaurant. According to the Current, a sticking point emerged regarding a second-story mechanical system on the exterior of the restaurant facing Johnson’s property.
He claimed that the system is an exhaust vent that would spit fumes from the commercial kitchen into his yard, while also making loud noise. One of the restaurateurs, Gabriel Frasca, told the Current that the unit is part of the HVAC system, not a kitchen exhaust vent, that will be screened in eventually.
Johnson told the Current that Nantucket Island Resorts is favored by town officials because the company provides so many jobs, and that he had trouble finding lawyers that did not already have a conflict of interest.
When asked by the outlet why he had not reached back out to Karp directly regarding the issue, Johnson reportedly said that it would be akin to “pissing in the wind.”
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