Charles Schwab and billionaire ex-Franklin Resources CEO in clam shack scrap

investmentnews.com:

When Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick, he had never actually visited the quaint Massachusetts isle of Nantucket. His multivolume novel spanned an epic battle — and now another, maybe less epic battle is being waged on the island dubbed “the most expensive in the world.” This time, the protagonists are all actual real residents, or at least part-time residents.

Nantucket is used to millionaires and even billionaires — at the end of last month the median house price was $5 million, or a whopping $1,600 per square foot.

And right next to one of those houses on the exclusive Old North Wharf sits Straight Wharf Fish Market.

The market closed in 2019 for refurbishment, with owners Gabriel Frasca and Kevin Burleson planning to add ice cream and a 62-seat restaurant. “We aim to be that local clam shack that every Cape and coastal town has on the water, serving classics like clam rolls, fish sandwiches, lobster rolls, and a few modern touches as well,” Burleson wrote in the license application.

Unfortunately for Frasca and Burleson, their business is just 18 inches away from a $6.5 million, 1,200-square-foot house that belongs to Charles Johnson, a majority stakeholder in the San Francisco Titans and ex-head of financial firm Franklin Resources,

Johnson, who’s valued by Forbes at $4.9 billion, is suing to stop the development, along with others, and claims the Beverage Oversight Committee granted the business an alcohol permit in haste. He argues that the decision “disregarded the negative effect that the granting of the license would have on the abutting residences and neighbors.”

Historically, Straight Wharf Fish functioned as a fish distributor and dessert parlor. Its doors closed in 2019, and refurbishments commenced late