MADEIRA BEACH – The planned opening of Crabby’s Shrimp Shack in the vacant Leatherback’s Steak House and adjacent properties on Madeira Way will not be happening.
George Shontz, who owns the site with his wife Patricia, confirmed that a deal for the restaurant has fallen through.
Plans for the new eatery, described as a family-oriented seafood house, were greeted with enthusiasm by city officials when it was announced in May. City Manager W.D. Higginbotham had raved that the restaurant could transform the stagnant Madeira Way corridor.
Now the deal is dead, and George Shontz is at a loss to explain why.
“It just went off the radar,” he said.
The proposed restaurant’s principal is John Loder, a member of the family who has run the famed Crabby Bill’s restaurant in Indian Rocks Beach for years. The Shontzes were under the impression the new eatery would be a part of that operation, but later found out that John Loder had split with his brother Matt and was no longer associated with Crabby Bill’s.
George Shontz said John Loder apparently just dropped the deal.
“He must have changed his mind,” Shontz said.
Other parties have expressed an interest in the property, Shontz indicated, but he declined to offer details.
As for Loder and Crabby’s Shrimp Shack, Shontz said, “We haven’t heard from him any more, so we’re moving on.”
Calls to John Loder’s cell phone were not returned.
