2023 May June Marina World
The magazine for the marina industry
The magazine for the marina industry
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COVER STORY<br />
Able to accommodate vessels up to 140ft<br />
(43m), Jacksonville at Ortega Landing has<br />
extensive slips for mid- and long-term slip<br />
holders as well as visitors.<br />
Q: Do you have any kind of club/<br />
network membership scheme?<br />
A: This is something we spend a lot<br />
of time thinking about. In a previous<br />
venture at a company called XOJET,<br />
we had success launching a club<br />
offering to our membership base.<br />
Our customers loved it. At Port 32,<br />
we think a club can be a channel to<br />
provide unique, curated experiences to<br />
members who are seeking an elevated<br />
suite of offerings. Our vision for the club<br />
is to extend Port 32’s relevance beyond<br />
our marina footprint to waterfront<br />
experiences and partnerships that<br />
club members and our surrounding<br />
communities will value.<br />
Q: Drystack is a more popular concept<br />
in Florida than anywhere else in the<br />
USA. Why do you think this is? Do you<br />
think there will be further growth for<br />
drystack in Florida?<br />
A: We think so. There is a scarcity of<br />
affordable, waterfront<br />
property suitable for<br />
marina development, so<br />
the most economical way<br />
to serve the most boaters<br />
is to build vertically.<br />
Q: If you had a choice to<br />
build a wet slip marina or a<br />
drystack from the ground<br />
up, which would you<br />
choose and why?<br />
Cape Coral offers secure<br />
drystack, on-site service,<br />
repair and maintenance, and<br />
boat rentals.<br />
Brian Adams Photography<br />
A: I think we would want a combination<br />
of both. Our guiding principle is to<br />
provide an elevated marina experience<br />
that passionate boaters find appealing<br />
– some members prefer a wet slip or a<br />
lift slip, and others prefer dry storage.<br />
Why not aim to give them the best of<br />
both worlds?<br />
Q: Please give an overview on the<br />
trends you see emerging in boat<br />
ownership. Are you welcoming younger<br />
customers? How do you feel the<br />
industry will develop in coming years?<br />
Where will the emphasis be? What are<br />
customers looking for above all?<br />
A: We think Port 32 sits at the<br />
intersection of three broad trends. First,<br />
the pandemic introduced a younger<br />
generation to boating and enabled<br />
many of us to reconnect with nature.<br />
We absolutely welcome this younger<br />
consumer and are investing in digital<br />
innovation to provide our members<br />
more flexibility and efficiency in how we<br />
experience the water.<br />
Second, we are seeing remarkable<br />
innovation in outboard engine<br />
Brian Adams Photography<br />
Port 32 Portfolio –<br />
Cape Coral: drystack for boats up to<br />
35ft (11m); rentals; service, repair and<br />
maintenance.<br />
Fort Lauderdale: drystack coming in<br />
<strong>2023</strong> for boats up to 55ft (17m); repair<br />
and maintenance with wet slips up to<br />
150ft (46m).<br />
Jacksonville at Ortega Landing: wet slips<br />
to 140ft (43m) available daily (transient),<br />
monthly and annually.<br />
Lighthouse Point: newly renovated; 100+<br />
wet slips to 80ft (24m) for transients and<br />
annually; liveaboards allowed.<br />
Marco Island: drystack for boats up to<br />
37ft (11m); rentals.<br />
Naples: drystack for boats up to 42ft<br />
(13m); rentals; members-only club.<br />
Palm Beach Gardens: drystack for boats<br />
up to 47ft (14m); Gulfstream Boat Club.<br />
Tampa: drystack for boats up to 42ft<br />
(13m); wet slips to 110ft (33.5m)<br />
including transient slips; repair and<br />
maintenance; Gulfstream Boat Club.<br />
Terra Verde: drystack for boats up to<br />
42ft (13m); wet slips (to 42ft/13m) and<br />
boat lifts (to 38ft/11.6m); Gulfstream<br />
Boat Club.<br />
technology, which is propelling bigger<br />
and bigger centre consoles. We<br />
are finding that older marinas often<br />
cannot equip these larger vessels,<br />
due to shortcomings in their steel<br />
infrastructure, concrete depth, lift<br />
equipment or slip sizes. At Port 32<br />
we are building marinas for the next<br />
30 years, not the past 30 years. This<br />
means we are making significant<br />
investments in the infrastructure and<br />
equipment required to accommodate<br />
larger, modern vessels. Our newest,<br />
state-of-the-art facility in Fort<br />
Lauderdale opening next month (<strong>May</strong>)<br />
is a great example of this.<br />
Last but certainly not least, I’m a<br />
big believer in experiences as an<br />
investment theme and as<br />
a way of life. Personally,<br />
I find myself choosing<br />
to invest in experiences<br />
over “things.” <strong>Marina</strong>s<br />
and boating are platforms<br />
for extraordinary<br />
experiences… for<br />
exploration and<br />
adventure, for leisure<br />
fishing or competition, for<br />
time away from the fray<br />
with friends and family,<br />
and for natural beauty on<br />
the water. I haven’t yet<br />
studied the neuroscience,<br />
www.marinaworld.com – <strong>May</strong>/<strong>June</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
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