Photo by drtana

The National Park Service announced today that a Massachusetts-based company will take over the Georgetown waterfont site currently operated by Jack’s Boathouse. B&G Outdoor Recreation, Inc., which operates six boat rental facilities in the Boston area, will take over the site for a two-year contract.

Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles, an NPS spokeswoman, said B&G Outdoor Recreation was selected from among six bidders reviewed by a panel of Park Service officials from across the nation with expertise in business management and park operation and policy. Jack’s Boathouse was not among the businesses competing for the contract, Anzelmo-Sarles says.

Jack’s Boathouse first opened in 1945 to canoers, kayakers, and other boaters navigating the Potomac River. It operated under a month-to-month lease first from the District and later passed on to the federal government in 1987 when the Georgetown waterfront was incorporated into Rock Creek Park. Its owners paid a monthly rent of $356, a rate that was last modified in 1982.

The current owner of Jack’s Boathouse, Paul Simkin, was told last December that NPS was canceling the arrangement. Simkin has argued that because of amendments to the deed that transferred control of the waterfront from the D.C. to the federal government, the property has in fact reverted to District oversight. NPS, meanwhile, contends that the Jack’s Boathouse lease was never legally transferred to Simkin after the 1999 death of the business’ former owner.

This will be B&G Outdoor Recreation’s first venture outside of the Boston area and first contract with NPS, though it does manage boat rental facilities in three Massachusetts state parks.

Simkin did not respond to a request for comment.

UPDATE, 4:30 p.m.: In a phone interview, Simkin says the awarding of the contract today is an intimidation move by the National Park Service that violates a restraining order staying the eviction.

“They agreed to stand down until the end of March,” Simkin says.

Simkin says that after Jack’s Boathouse filed its suit with the claim that the land it sits on has actually reverted back to District control, NPS agreed to wait until the end of March before taking any further steps. He says lawyers representing Jack’s Boathouse will be in court Monday to seek sanctions against the Park Service for violating a restraining order staying the eviction.

“The bottom line is we’re not going anywhere,” he says. “We’re very comfortable with our position and we’re not giving up what we believe our legal rights to be. The Park Service jumped the gun.”