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New boat storage facilities under construction in Broward
By BETH FEINSTEIN-BARTL
Waterfront News Writer
Boat storage in Broward County is going glam as several marinas and shipyards are being redeveloped. An upcoming spate of projects is expected to bring big changes — a welcome sign to beleaguered captains and boaters who will have more dockage options in an already overly cramped market.
“Broward’s waterfront has been built-out for years,” said Frank Herhold, executive director of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida. “What we’ll be seeing is either expansion, reconfiguration or redevelopment.” With available waterfront property at a premium, many business owners and developers are making over existing facilities. In some cases, entire structures are being razed and replaced.
Groundbreaking ceremonies have already begun. In early April shovels started removing mounds of dirt, marking the start of construction on a 310-slip dry stack storage facility at the former Hidden Harbour in Pompano Beach. The new facility, renamed Aquamarina Hidden Harbour, is slated to be finished in 2009.
Around the same time, another groundbreaking took place at Harbour Towne Marina in Dania Beach, where construction is due to start on a third dry stack building. The now-closed restaurant is being demolished in mid May to make room for the 155-slip structure, with room for boats up 45 feet. Completion is scheduled in late 2008, bringing the total number of dry slips on the property to 622, said John Louis, regional manger for the site’s management company, Westrec Marinas.
Other projects are in the pipeline. Industry officials credit last year’s approval of the county’s boat facility siting plan with allowing much of the development to move forward. Prior to the plan’s passage, permits for construction of new facilities and expansion of existing ones were put on hold.
“It removed a significant hurdle,” said Gordon Connell, MIASF’s director of association services.
To date, numerous proposals are at various stages of the permitting process. The Broward County Environmental Protection and Growth Management Department has given 16 applications the green light since December and another 30 are under review, said Linda Sunderland, the agency’s aquatic and wetlands resources manager.
All applications combined add up to 1,573 wet and dry slips at condominium, commercial and municipal sites. The numbers aren’t concrete and can change as the permitting process moves forward, Sunderland said.
Based on surveys, there are presently an estimated 10,629 commercial slips and 3,349 slips at condominiums countywide. With 48,000 registered boats in Broward, there’s not enough space to accommodate everyone. The increase in dockage will relieve some of the crunch, Connell said.
The growth will have a positive ripple effect on the marine industry. More slips mean more sales, as well as boost the need for boating related services, said Andrew Sturner, CEO and founder of Aqua Marine Partners the development team behind Aquamarina Hidden Harbour.
 The company purchased the 7-acre parcel at 1500 Federal Highway, Pompano Beach, in January. A dry stack structure with 150 slips for boats up to 25 feet was razed to make way for the new 69,000 square foot facility. Once finished, 310 slips will accommodate vessels up 41 feet, Sturner said.
The dry stack will be state of the art, able to withstand 140 mph winds from a Category 4 hurricane. A proposal to place 26,000 square feet of retail and office space on the property are waiting for permitting approval from the City of Pompano Beach.
Aqua Marine Partners also took ownership of a shipyard on the South Fork of the New River and has similar plans to transform the property into a second dry stack.
The proposal seeks to build the Vertical Yacht Club Marina Mile
www.verticalyachtclub.com/marinamile with 62 slips designed to vertically stack vessels from 75 to 90 feet, located at State Road 84 and Interstate-595. Construction is scheduled for the fall. An opening is slated for 2009, Sturner said.
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