Proposed marina in limbo

March 28, 2008

Rivers Edge
A Fort Myers developer is proposing to convert Oyster Creek Marina into luxury condominiums and a yacht harbor, but the plan appears to be sinking.

Mark Knight, city planning and building director, said Thursday that Yacht Clubs of America had received approvals to build 99 condominiums in four buildings, 150 wet slips for large yachts, a 150-seat restaurant, retail and office space and a 10-foot wide river walk.

Full story at The Record

Written by Freddy · Filed Under Growth

Comments

5 Responses to “Proposed marina in limbo”

AuggieNewsHound on March 28th, 2008 12:48 pm

Interesting article in Florida Trend
Trendsetters: Marine Industries
By Mike Vogel - 8/1/2007

Marina Converter

Talking to Steeven Knight, you feel you walked into the middle of an argument over the merits of his brainchild, the Yacht Clubs of the Americas. He’s non-stop on everything about his business: The benefits of owning vs. renting dock space, of preserving access to the water through private ownership, etc.

Knight buys marinas, upgrades the amenities, converts them to condo ownership and sells the wet slips and dry racks. He’s done it in Sanibel and Destin and expects to open in New Smyrna, Fort Myers, Tampa, Key West, Clearwater, Naples, Stuart and Jacksonville by early next year. He has a partnership with Grand Bahama Yacht Club in the Bahamas and is entering a joint venture for as many as 10 more clubs from Mississippi to the Panhandle. All told, he has 4,000 dry racks and 450 wet slips in development, inventory or sold. Wet slips start at $6,500 per linear foot. Dry racks begin at $125,000 for a 30-foot boat.

Knight, 50, says he’s responding to the loss of marina space to residential developers. “What we did is create a mechanism that preserves a marina,” he says.

To anyone who argues that he’s taking rental slips off the market, he answers that his owners can always rent their spaces out or sell them.

Buy and Hold

“My daddy once said the only problem with selling something is you don’t own it anymore.” So says , 40, co-owner with J.C. Solomon II, 55, of the Jupiter-based Loggerhead Club & Marina chain. He was explaining why they adopted the buy-and-hold model for their 10 marinas totaling 2,500 wet slips and dry racks. Loggerhead touts its yacht club benefits and reciprocal dockage with leases. Graziotto and Solomon have their sights set on building out in Florida and the Bahamas before moving to the Texas coast and lower Southeast coast.

Steeven Knight
Yacht Clubs of the Americas, CEO, Fort Myers

Lineage: One ancestor was the first lighthouse tender in Pompano Beach; his grandfather was born in the lighthouse. His father fished commercially at age 8 and grew up to be a yacht captain.

Boyhood near Pompano at a legendary restaurant: “I used to fish through the holes in the floor in the kitchen. Those were in the days when they were serving green sea turtle.”
Dunrobin on March 29th, 2008 8:52 am

I had the chance to meet and get to know (a little) several of the principles of YCOA last year, and I think they have incredible integrity..they have a really good understanding of Yacht life/Marina’s and stellar service levels to their customers. All in all, I believe this group is a solid business who only wants to provide a quaility product in a new niche.

I’d really like to see this area of Oyster Creek redeveloped into something we would be proud of. Add it to the upgrades coming in with the Westin, and I think it would be an incredible win/win….. but they are caught up in the mire that is our city govt.. they don’t understand it. I hope it all works out because they have already spent ooodles of money here trying to work within our ’system’.
Mike on March 29th, 2008 9:02 am

Good morning.

From the Florida Trend article: Knight buys marinas, upgrades the amenities, converts them to condo ownership and sells the wet slips and dry racks. He’s done it in Sanibel and Destin and expects to open in New Smyrna, Fort Myers, Tampa, Key West, Clearwater, Naples, Stuart and Jacksonville by early next year.

I think we saw this about three years ago with developers converting apartments into condominium ownership. In fact, I bought one

Real estate sales - in general - are sluggish right now and it is clear that yacht properties would hold no exemption from the market. Their idea is solid and the location couldn’t be better. Now if we could just get the “buyers” back ….
Cato on March 29th, 2008 9:23 am

I would like to know the details on the eight properties; size, location, ownership and tax assessments should be public record.

Plus the proffered purchase prices and who the owner who backed out is — which may not be public knowledge, except by rumor?

If the information in the article is correct, it appears that one property owner won’t sell, or is holding out for more money; and with the economic downswing, decreased property values and decreased boat sales locally and nationwide, that refusal is the deal broker, the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.
Dunrobin on March 30th, 2008 2:07 pm

One can never trust the Record, or Peter Guinta, to get the facts correct.