2023 May June Marina World

DRYSTACK STORAGE
Regionally, in the southeast USA,
dry storage is an extremely limited
resource, and the market is vastly
underserved. Every year tens of
thousands of day boats and centre
consoles are built but very few dry
storage buildings or slips are being
created. This is causing the demand to
rise ever higher, and pricing to go with
it. For example, Haulover inlet, Hamilton
Harbor Yacht Club and Riviera Beach
Marina all saw up to 25% increases in
rent rates over the last year, and didn’t
lose a single customer according to
management, while maintaining an
ever-growing waiting list. We don’t see
the market for dry storage decreasing
any time soon.
Obstacles: As mentioned before, very
few new dry storage projects are being
built, and there are several reasons for
this.
Governmental requirements exist
as barriers to development almost
everywhere in the world, and can
range from zoning, legacy sites, height
restrictions, setbacks, architectural
requirements and many more.
Hamilton Harbor Yacht Club, built in
2008, was the world’s first all-concrete dry
storage barn.
Historically, dry storage buildings have
been built using pre-engineered metal
building systems and incorporate
the use of massive diesel forklifts.
These developments are noisy, not
environmentally friendly, and can be
eyesores to the surrounding community
and its residents. None of these are
ingredients for an easy permitting
process or smooth community
acceptance.
There are also many environmental
restrictions that vary by location
throughout the world. Regionally in
Florida, one piece of legislation in
particular is the manatee protection
programme. Its many rules and
restrictions that vary by county have
made approvals for a drystack marina
extremely difficult. Often disjointed and
superfluous (with a few exceptions such
as Collier County), these plans often
require the existence of “manatee slip
credits” that, if not properly claimed
Gulf Star Marina in Florida proved
its hurricane resistance when hit by
the strongest storm surge and winds of
Hurricane Ian.
and maintained, can disappear for ever
from a property never to be re-created.
These credits can be purchased
and transferred from an area of high
protection to an area of low protection,
but this is a costly and laborious
process, if it is even feasible. Aside
from that, many factors both on the
upland and the submerged land, such
as endangered species, presence of
seagrass, density of mangroves etc.
can have an impact.
As a result, many waterfront
properties in locations where the
market for dry storage development
is strong have to compete with other
alternate uses, such as condo,
residential and resort/hotel. Often these
other development types can perform
just as well and can be easier to permit.
In fact, many dry storage buildings
are being removed or torn down
and replaced with such competing
development types. One example is in
Fort Myers Beach, where Hurricane Ian
demolished several dry storage barns.
Moss Marina is operational but plans
to redevelop to become a large mixeduse
bayfront destination (see article
on p.46). In this development, the dry
storage component will be demolished
and only the wet slips will remain.
Future growth: For some time, forklifts
and metal dry storage barns have been
the only offering in the market. GCM
Contracting Solutions built Hamilton
Harbor Yacht Club, the world’s first allconcrete
dry storage barn in Naples,
Florida in 2008. Nearly a decade later,
GCM and ASAR developed the world’s
28 www.marinaworld.com – May/June 2023