South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • 76

South Florida marina expansions To combat an increasing shortage of dock and storage space, several South Florida companies are investing to expand or upgrade available slip space at marinas. 1 Atlantic "I Crmnn -A 1 Grand Harbor Marina 1221 Marina Village Circle, Vero Beach Currently 1 26 wet slips; planning an expansion. AWr1 J. Vero BeatR- Municipal w.r. MLiLEAGlK fit Airport Beach jjjj Osceola Blvd.

The industry bucks development trends and creates space for boats. Donald Ross Rd. 'J A MILES jjj PGABIid Northlake Blvd. Blue Heron 45 St. West Palm Beach 36 Palm Beach takes Blvd.

2. Loggerhead Club and Marina-Palm Beach Gardens 2700 Donald Ross Road, Palm Beach Gardens Currently 140 wet slips; planning to reconfigure for larger boats. 3. Loggerhead Club and Marina-Riviera Beach 2650 Lakeshore Drive, Riviera Beach Building dry storage for 300 boats and 30 wet slips. 4.

Lake Park Harbor Marina 105 Lake Shore Drive, Lake Park Building 102 slips. 5. New Port Cove Marine Center 2116 Avenue Riviera Adding 350 dry stack spaces. 6. Rybovich Spencer 4200 N.

Flagler Drive, West Palm Beach Investing $12 million to modernize marina, build 1 25 wet slips and accommodate more megayachts; also modernizing boatyard. 7. Gundlach Marine Center B70 Federal Highway, Currently 375 dry stack and 28 wet slips; planning an expansion. 8. Bahia Mar Yachting Center 801 Seabreeze Fort Lauderdale Built 250 slips for megayachts and smaller boats.

9. Pier 17 Marina and Yacht Club 1500 SW 17th Fort Lauderdale Planning 28 to 29 covered slips for megayachts. Staff graphicBelinda Long Okeechobee Blvtl. Atlantic Ocean Southern Blvd.Q( Lake 3 Worth 10th Ave. Lake Worth Rd.

by Joseph Mann BUSINESS WRITER Investors are looking for new ways to make dock space available in South Florida for thousands of local boaters and visitors who have seen marinas torn down and replaced by luxury condo developments. A Jupiter-based company, Seven Kings Holdings is investing $25 million to build a marina in Riviera Beach. Greyhawk Marine Group of Dallas is projecting outlays of about $8 million to convert an old Fort Lauderdale boatyard into a modern marina capable of housing yachts up to 120 feet and to add a clubhouse, pool and space for marine businesses. And Old Port Cove Holdings Inc. of North Palm Beach is completing a dry-storage facility costing $3.5 million to house 350 boats up to 40 feet.

These and other companies are investing to keep South Florida's recreational marine sector, which generates more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs, profitable by maintaining or expanding space available for boats. Marina operators are struggling to meet demand for new docking and storage space and to maximize the value of their marine businesses, many of which have been gobbled up by residential developments. Over the last two years, for example, more than 300 slips in Broward County alone were closed to the public. "Our working waterfront is under tremendous development pressure, and space especially for dry stack storage is critical," said Frank Her-hold, executive director of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida, a Fort Lauderdale-based trade group with about 800 members. "If we can't keep up with demand, the area will become like New York City, where people don't buy Beach, other projects aim at upgrading marinas and boatyards to add value.

One investor, for example, is taking over a do-it-yourself repair boatyard in Fort Lauderdale and converting it into an upscale marina and club for megayachts. Greyhawk in January took over Summerfield Boat Works, built in 1940, and plans to build a new seawall, 28 or 29 covered wet slips for megayachts, a clubhouse for captains and crew and other amenities. The old Summerfield yard will be renamed the Pier 17 Marina and Yacht Club. "We want to make it very clear that we are not building condos," said Brad Tate, regional director for Flagship Marinas, the company that will manage the facility for Greyhawk. Tate was responding to public concern that the project would be replacing yet another marine facility with apartments.

But the project has its downside for some boaters. The new investors seek to maximize the value of the Summerfield property by attracting the big-spending megayacht crowd. The boaters who currently use the popular yard, though, will have to find another place to carry out repairs and maintenance in a market that's already short on space. The yard, with about 24 employees, will continue to function as the renovation progresses, said Michelle Corson, a partner at Greyhawk. Construction is expected to begin this summer.

In West Palm Beach, the family of South Florida entrepreneur H. Wayne Huizenga plans to invest 12 million to upgrade the marina at the Ry-bovich Spencer boatyard as part of a larger development project. The family, which owns and operates other marinas, recently unveiled a 1 00 million project that includes converting the marina into a modern facility for megayachts, building more than 220 residential units, a waterfront restaurant and space for retail outlets. A TOWN STEPS IN The space shortage has even prompted one local government to develop a public marina specifically to meet the needs of small to midsized boats. Lake Park is completing an $8 million investment to rebuild an old marina and provide 102 deepwater slips for boats ranging from 30 feet to more than 60 feet at Lake Park Harbor Marina.

The town dredged the marina basin, built new docks, erected a seawall and replaced a crumbling and poorly maintained facility, said Patience Cohn, the marina manager. "The old facility had 200 slips for 20-foot boats, but some were unusable and the basin had silted up over the years. It was very much in disrepair," she said. When the town decided to move ahead with the facility, it found that some marinas were not catering to owners of boats between 30 feet and 60 feet, Cohn said. People with small boats on trailers can use public ramps, and owners of larger craft will be able to lease space at the new marina.

"This is a bread-and-butter market," Cohn said. "The town aimed to keep boating alive in Palm Beach County." Despite new investments, some in the industry see marina owners and operators swimming against the economic tide. "The trend to develop waterfront property for other uses is likely to continue," said Rick Morgan, president and chief operating officer of Old Port Cove Holdings in North Palm Beach. "Waterfront property is a strong demand commodity and folks in business are going to find the highest value and best use for these facilities. And in a lot of cases, it's not a marina." Sunrise Blvd.

Fort Lauderdale Broward Blvd. i Las Olas Blvd. Davie Blvd. 17 St ucean MILES SOURCE: Sun-Sentinel research $8 MILLION PROJECT: Greyhawk Marine Group is converting this do-it-yourself repair boatyard in Fort Lauderdale into a megayacht marina and club. The Summerfield Boat Works, built in 1 940, will be renamed the Pier 1 7 Marina and Yacht Club.

Staff photoSusan stocker cars because of a lack of garage space. People will stop buying boats because they won't have anyplace to keep them." Moreover, competition for megayachts or luxury vessels measuring 80 feet or more is be- 13 ft 1 1 mm, 14, I lb 1 Jt ing exacerbated by an acute shortage of dock space, Herhold noted. These big boats, which come to the area from all over the world for maintenance, refits, repairs and charters, generate hundreds of million of dollars for South Florida each year. If they can't find space here, he warned, they will sail to other ports. ADDING NEW SLIPS One way to meet the demand for space would be building new marinas.

But this is not usually an option because of the high cost of waterfront property. Moreover, it takes years to obtain zoning, construction and environmental permits from different government agencies to develop a marina. Two businessmen based in Jupiter are challenging this trend by investing to maintain or in-prease dock space at several South Florida marinas. JC Solomon II and Raymond Graziotto, the owners of Seven Kings Holdings, took over a defunct marina in Riviera Beach and are building Loggerhead Club and Marina-Riviera Beach on 10 acres at a cost of $25 million. By purchasing property that was already zoned for marine use, they avoided the long waits required for building any new marina.

The two partners, successful real estate devel opers, are constructing a dry-storage facility that will be able to handle more than 300 boats up to 45 feet, waterfront slips to accommodate about 30 boats, a private club, a fueling station, a ship's store and other marine businesses. Loggerhead will have an enclosed building for dry storage where boats will be lifted into racks by forklifts. This system allows more boats to be stored in a limited space than if they were tied up at docks. The company owns or manages eight marinas from Vero Beach to Miami and recently refurbished Frenchman's Marina in Palm Beach Gardens, converting it into Loggerhead Club and Marina-Palm Beach Gardens with 130 slips. It plans to extend the Loggerhead brand to other properties.

The Seven Kings partners got into the marina business by chance, buying land at the start of the 1990s in Palm Beach Gardens that had a marina, said Graziotto, the company's president and chief operating officer. "We decided to apply good management principles and make it more than a mom-and-pop business." They also saw an opportunity in taking over other marinas and upgrading them. GOING UPSCALE While Seven Kings is adding space in Riviera Il i i CLEANUP: Walter McCuiston of Boca Raton hoses down his 32-foot Nordic tug at the Summerfield Boat Works. Staff photoSusan Stocker Joseph Mann can be reached at or 954-356-4665, COMING ATTRACTION: The Loggerhead Club and Marina-Riviera Beach will house more than 300 boats up to 45 feet and will have waterfront slips for about 30 boats. Staff photoScott Fisher.