Marina developer buys Fort Lauderdale boatyard for $14M

Fort Lauderdale Boatyard & Marina
Fort Lauderdale Boatyard & Marina

Atlantic Marina Holdings just closed its $14.1 million purchase of the Fort Lauderdale Boatyard and Marina, and plans to completely redevelop the site into a modern “marina village.”

The deal covers roughly 11 acres of land at 1915 Southwest 21st Avenue, currently home to a roster of about 80 commercial tenants and marine operators in marina facilities that were first built in the 1950s.

Its owners — Ed Ruff, Geoffrey Shepard and Gregory Shepard — put the property up for sale in February. Their appraisals placed the boatyard’s value in the neighborhood of $18 million, and the owners said in a statement that they’d fielded more than 30 inquiries from potential buyers in the U.S. and internationally.

Now, the property is squarely in the hands of South Carolina-based Atlantic Marina Holdings. County records show the marina operator and developer closed its purchase through an affiliate on Tuesday, and financed the deal with a $5.75 million loan from the American Bank of Texas.

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The company is planning a total redevelopment of the marina in favor of more modern facilities including wet docks up to 120 feet, dry docks up to 55 feet, as well as a number of onsite marine vendors and dealers.

“We also want to provide a more affordable alternative to the existing marinas in the area,” the company said in its release. “Fort Lauderdale has always been on our radar, and we are certainly pleased to be investing in an area which has often been referred to as the ‘boating capital of the world.’”

When completed, Atlantic Marina expects the project to be one of the biggest in Florida.

This marks the first time Atlantic Marina Holdings has entered the Fort Lauderdale marketplace. Its current holdings include five facilities in its hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, as well as the PGA Marina & Boating Center in Palm Beach Gardens, which it bought for $8.45 million in June 2015.