NEWS REPRINT
For $200,000-plus a year,
megayacht owners can give vessels
a happy home
Released Thursday, March 3, 2005
by Joseph Mann
Copyright © Sun-Sentinel, 2005
One of the most expensive parking spaces in the United States is in 12 feet of water near downtown Fort Lauderdale.
By paying more than $200,000 a year, yachts of up to about 140 feet can dock at one of the six protected slips at The Boathouse on the Seminole River, near the entrance to Port Everglades.
An unusual structure even for South Florida's high-end marinas and boatyards, The Boathouse is a three-story, reinforced concrete building designed to withstand winds up to 160 miles per hour.
It has six interior slips covered on three sides and two outside slips, which go for only about $100,000 per year. It also offers air-conditioned storage space for each tenant, a three-car garage, 24-hour surveillance and other amenities.
"These slips are aimed at the megayacht market, for owners who want to keep their boats in pristine condition," said Kelly Drum, a real estate agent and one of the five South Florida businessmen who bought the structure last year from the original builder/owner for more than $10 million. "These boats are expensive and owners can keep them from getting beat up by the sun, the wind and the rain."
Most megayachts, or luxury vessels 80 feet or longer, tie up at open marinas, waterfront homes or use shed-type dockage that isn't as sturdily built as The Boathouse.
"The primary advantage for us is the undercover storage we have here," said Tony Valentino, captain of an 80-foot Trinity yacht that has been at The Boathouse on a permanent basis for more than 18 months. "We're covered on three sides and it makes it a lot easier to get cleaning and repair work done. Weather can play havoc on getting outside work done on the boat. Now we can make a schedule and stick to it."
The facility is one more selling point in attracting more megayachts to the tri-county area, said Frank Herhold, executive director of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida, a trade group that includes about 800 companies. "Owners save a lot of money by protecting their boats from the elements," he said. "A paint job for a big boat can cost between $350,000 and $400,000."
Drum says that The Boathouse already has lined up leases for three spaces, and sold another. The plan is to keep the outside slips open for transients visiting the area. Transients can also rent interior slip space short term when it is available, Drum said. Eventually, the inside slips will be put on sale for about $3.5 million each.
The county "certainly could use more" facilities like this concrete structure, Herhold said. But building more structures like The Boathouse and other new facilities to protect big boats will be difficult. Waterfront space is in short supply because developers have taken over marinas and repair yards to build luxury condos. "It's a very simple equation," he added. If megayachts can't find space in South Florida, they're forced to go to competing ports like Savannah, Ga., Charleston, S.C., and Jacksonville and in the Bahamas and the Caribbean.
Megayachts visiting the tri-county area have a large economic impact. Big boats use dock space at marinas, carry out maintenance, repairs and refits at boatyards, purchase equipment and services and generate charter and sales commissions. Moreover, owners, guests and crews spend money at local restaurants and malls.
Drum, a partner in Fort Lauderdale-based Drum Realty, which specializes in marine-related real estate, agrees that more high-end boathouses like his would be good for the marine business in South Florida. But, he said, "There is very little space available and it's too expensive to build anything like this." To buy the land and build a similar structure in a similar location today would cost $19 million or more, he estimated.
"If someone went out today and got a piece of property like this, the cost and location would justify vertical development, building a condo. It would be hard to justify building something like this again."
For more information, contact Kelly Drum
(954) 931-3222
boathouse@boatstation.com or visit MegaSlips.com
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