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George Rahdert
"My Law Practice and
My Clients Come First"
(Originally published in Pinellas County Review,
September 1994)
By Bob
Andelman
Bay Plaza may be St. Petersburg's designated
master developer, but what has the company developed in seven
years other than a parking garage with 200,000 vacant square
feet?
Maybe the crown of "master developer"
should shift a few blocks west to the law offices of Rahdert
& Anderson and the head of George Rahdert.
During the same period of time Bay Plaza has
been spinning its wheels, Rahdert, 44, has managed a successful
practice and instilled style and new life into once crumbling
historic structures across the central business district, including
the Stewart Building, Mansion By the Bay, the Alexander Building
and the Bay Gables Tea Room and Bed & Breakfast. In the second
half of 1994 he's taken on two huge new projects, renovating
the old Rutland Department Store and reopening the shuttered
State Theater, both on Central Avenue.
But guess which developer, Bay Plaza or Rahdert,
gets the bigger run-around at City Hall?
"The small entrepreneur meets with incredible
resistance," Rahdert complains. "The sad fact of restoring
real estate in downtown St. Petersburg is you always run into
a brick wall. I do think things are seriously skewed when the
city turns over everything to Bay Plaza and trusts them
and honors their timetable. They're giving the city away
to the big guy and withering the little guy. It should be the
other way around. You need the small entrepreneurs to take risks
and add charm to the city. The city does not understand and does
not honor the free market."
Maybe it's not a fair comparison. Because
while Bay Plaza spent millions of taxpayer dollars developing
the South Core parking garage, Plaza Parkway and, until recently,
was paid by its development partner the city to manage The Pier,
ThunderDome and Bayfront Center, Rahdert had the cheekiness to
take the city to court over disabled access to the Dome. And
as counsel for the St. Petersburg Times, Rahdert &
Anderson is always in the city's face over public documents and
public meetings. The most infamous example was the city's attempt
to conduct business with the Chicago White Sox many years ago
outside the sunshine.
"I've been told the city has a special
place in its heart for me because I forced it to deal with handicapped
access at the ThunderDome," Rahdert says. "If I'm getting
a payback, fine. My law practice and my clients come first. I've
never had a moment's regret standing up for the disabled in St.
Pete. If that's the effect, so be it."
Why Rahdert keeps redeveloping property in
downtown is a mystery. In fact, after the Bay Gables Tea Room
finally opened in 1992 after months of battles with city inspectors,
he swore that was the last he'd tangle with the city over real
estate.
What changed his mind?
"Obviously, I'm a sick person,"
he says, grinning. "A masochist. I've stepped back in for
my fair share of abuse. I should have stuck to my guns.
But I sort of like to save things."
Driving him crazy are inspectors who give
him a list of things that need correcting then, when those items
are satisfied, come back with a second or third list. "They
have contradicting codes," Rahdert says. "The fire
code is in contravention with the building code. When a building
changes use, they hold it to the standard for modern codes and
construction. It's impractical to demand an old building meet
modern codes and setbacks. There is a set of rules and regulations
in the construction code that describes a city different than
what we have."
ADD: "He may be generalizing too much,"
answers Rick Mussett, Community Development Administrator for
the city. "There's probably a certain element of truth to
that, (but) it's not the same problem it may have been two years
ago. I think, by and large, the city's fire and building officials
try to bend over backward and be accommodating. We want to help
the small entrepreneur the same way we helped the Vinoy be redeveloped."
One of Rahdert's projects, the Bay
Gables Tea Room, was supposed to open as a bed & breakfast.
Instead, it served high tea with no rooms for rent.
"The tea room was so successful, it took
over the building," Rahdert says. "The city gave us
hell because they couldn't find a bedroom. Well, the market dictated
we go in a different direction."
Donna Gilbert owns the Tea Room business.
With Rahdert's help, she'll soon operate a B&B, too. Rahdert
bought the properties behind Bay Gables, razing the cottage immediately
behind the tea room and rehabilitating an old flophouse beyond
that which will offer eight guest rooms (including honeymoon
suite) by year's end. Rooms will go for $75-$135 a night.
"George is my landlord, but he wears
a couple different hats," Gilbert says. "He lent me
money to renovate the (B&B) building. And he gave me a lease-option
to buy the buildings. He's willing to give people a chance that
maybe have not had a chance to prove themselves.
"The man has a lot of enthusiasm for
this city, which not a lot of people do," she says. "He
has a lot of vision. If the city were more supportive of him,
I think he'd do a lot more. He needs to be encouraged, not discouraged."
Rahdert's biggest challenge to date will no
doubt be cleaning up the shuttered Rutland Department Store at
Central Avenue and 5th Street N. He hopes to restore the original
exterior and lease first floor space inside to a variety of small
retailers. "There's virtually no retail space available
in the city now," Rahdert says, referring to Bay Plaza's
demolition of the First By First strip and other nearby storefronts.
"Good for me." A large area on the west side of the
building will serve as a coffeehouse/restaurant. Upstairs, his
preference is a funky working space and galleries for local artists,
but economics may dictate office space. Grand opening is tentatively
set for June 1994.
Reopening the State Theater by December may
be a little easier than the usual Rahdert project. The previous
owners already rehabbed it, but lacked deep enough pockets to
keep it open. He also intends to increase the food & beverage
operation.
When he restores a property, Rahdert does
so with a particular type of business in mind. He'll often be
an investor in the business's start-up, but he prefers to bring
in experienced operators.
"I often have a hand in guiding the business,
but I don't have the time, capacity or knowledge to run these
businesses," he says.
He played a role in the catering business
of Mansion By the Bay until selling it to the operator in 1993.
And when the Alexander Building opened, he was a partner in the
original ground-floor cafe, The Alexis. Now he's merely landlord
for the current tenant, Saffron's, and the many sole practitioners
who share space with Rahdert & Anderson in the Alexander
(including access to the Zen-Buddha Conference Room and the Mint-Julep
Patio for Friday beer bashes).
"I grew up on a farm in Bowling Green,
Ohio," Rahdert says. "I like the tangible aspects of
real estate. In law, the results are not necessarily tangible.
In real estate, the results are something you can tackle. I'm
also a capitalist."
His career as a real estate mogul aside, it's
important to remember George Rahdert is, first and foremost,
a prominent St. Petersburg attorney, best-known for representing
the Times.
And as the name on the shingle indicates,
this is not a one-lawyer practice. Pat Anderson is not only his
partner in the firm in name, she also his participates in real
estate ventures such as the Alexander Building and the Rutland
Department Store. They both represent the Times.
"The relationship between the newspaper
and George and his firm is essential to us," says Executive
Editor Paul Tash. "I can't imagine that a week goes by without
contact between me or one of my colleagues and that firm. They've
been very effective."
The newspaper represents fully one-third of
the firm's business.
"We took a lead position in the (attempted)
Bass takeover and then the (attempted) Yale takeover," Rahdert
recalls. "We also resist subpoenas to protect reporters'
sources, fight our way into public records, and fight libel lawsuits.
The editors don't make a lot of mistakes. If they get sued where
they haven't made a mistake, we'll represent them assiduously."
Other Times vs. the world situations
have included featured bouts against former Pasco County Sheriff
John Short (a series about corruption in Short's office won the
newspaper a Pulitzer Prize), the Tampa Tribune (about
the recently dropped lawsuit over the name The Times and
the Trib's old Tampa Times, Rahdert says, "Our
victory in the first round was to declare we did not want to
be confused on any level with the Tampa Tribune")
and The Times of London ("We're still looking
for someone who went out to buy The Times of London and
wound up with The Times of St. Petersburg, instead").
Daily deadlines and the vast opportunity for
something to go wrong at any time of the day or night keeps the
Times' counselors on their toes. "You have to be
ready to respond immediately," Rahdert says. "You don't
have the luxury of time."
Rahdert, who is listed in Best Lawyers in
America, has clients other than the Times, of course,
some in the media (Home Shopping Network, The Miami Herald),
some not (the Lutheran Church of Florida, Tape and Label Engineering,
Plant City Steel). Specializations include first amendment and
church law, as well as civil and disabled rights.
Disabled-rights activist George Locascio was
Rahdert's client when the lawyer challenged the city of St. Petersburg
on ThunderDome accessibility. It wasn't a chance partnership;
Locascio remembered Rahdert as a pre-law college intern at the
Times when Locascio was assistant manager of the commercial
services department. But when Locascio engaged Rahdert the attorney,
Rahdert had to come to him; his old offices in the Stewart Building
weren't equipped for wheelchair access, either.
In 1989, Rahdert represented Jacksonville's
Florida Star newspaper on a civil invasion of privacy
suit before the Supreme Court. The newspaper accidentally named
a rape victim in a story in violation of state law. "There
was a Florida statute which made it illegal to print or broadcast
the name of a rape victim," he says. "We argued that
truth and information of a public concern should never be censored
by statute. We won in the Supreme Court. We saved the newspaper.
"That's my story," Rahdert says,
"and I'm sticking to it."
BAY LAWYER FILE
Name: George K. Rahdert
Title: Partner,
Rahdert & Anderson
Birthplace/date:
August 3, 1950
Marital Status:
Divorced
Children: Jake
and Luke, 8 (twins); Karl, 9
Pre-Law: "I
grew up in rural Ohio where my father managed a farming operation
and I worked as a college professor. My mother was a high school
teacher. I attended Duke University and Yale Law School."
First Law Job:
Clerked for the Honorable Paul H. Roney, Judge of the United
States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Subsequent Career:
Worked for two years at Shackleford, Farrior, Stallings &
Evans in Tampa; formed Rahdert & Anderson with Patricia
Anderson.
Biggest Victory:
"My biggest victory was winning Nassau County School
Board v. Arline in the United States Supreme Court. This
case expanded the civil rights laws applied to people with disabilities,
including those afflicted with AIDS."
Biggest Disappointment: "A retrenchment in open government laws by
the Florida Supreme Court."
Lawyers Most Admired:
"I consider Sandy D'Alemberte, currently president of Florida
State University, to be my mentor in the law. I deeply respect
his intellect and breadths of interest. I could not have had
a better initial experience than working for Judge Paul Roney,
who is a brilliantly analytical and highly principled person.
I admire Harry Blackmun's independence of thought, and I particularly
respect the work of Justices Brennan, Marshall and Stewart."
Favorite Law-related Book: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter
S. Thompson
end
©2000,
All rights reserved. No portion may be reproduced without the
express written permission of the author.
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