The Marovic Drama Resurfaces

Here’s a fun item on Tuesday’s Closed Session calender.

And some backstory for the uninitiated:

Two and a half years a go, Mario Marovic, who owns the building on the northeast corner of Commonwealth and Harbor, agreed to a deal with the City to remove the City’s notorious “bump out” encroachment that was stuck onto the side of his structure, on the public sidewalk – a space he didn’t own and was making improvements to at the time.

The idea, I suppose, was to get Marovic to rid the public sidewalk of the illegal room addition without the City having to pay for it and answer embarrassing questions; and Marovic would get to open his fake Irish pub, a facility whose CUP drawings included the bump out. Happiness all around, right? Only a couple decades late.

Wrong.

It turns out that Marovic never had any intention of demolishing the bump out. The deal required demolition to start March 2024, two years ago. Of course Marovic has done absolutely nothing except submit a claim for damages to the City provoking a lawsuit that has dragged on for over a year.

Will this saga finally be over on Tuesday? Don’t bet on it. The City is always diffident in these matters, going so far as “Dr.” Ahmad Zahra mugging with the scofflaw and giving him some sort of certificate of appreciation; but Marovic isn’t the diffident sort. He may be tired of paying legal bills, but there’s almost nothing stopping him from resetting the clock and beginning a whole new delay cycle.