By Doreen Hemlock
Sun Sentinel 3/22/15

A parking spot for $3 million? That's what you'll pay for the largest superyacht dock at Harbour Twenty-Six in Fort Lauderdale, where 26 covered boat storage units are being sold like condominiums, each with a property title.

Prices start at $1.8 million for smaller docks, which can handle yachts starting at 80 feet long. Add several thousand dollars more every month to cover the cost of a clubhouse, swimming pool, security and other perks at the marina set for the Shady Banks neighborhood on the New River.

Developers call the project "the only fully covered dockominium megayacht marina in South Florida." They're counting on owners of multimillion-dollar yachts to pay the price to ensure a parking spot in the "Yachting Capital of the World." Finding a space to fit their super-long boats in peak season can be as tough as parking your car in South Beach on a festival weekend. And forget about parking in the shade. "Covered spaces for megayachts are coveted because they're few and far between in South Florida," said marine consultant Jim Bronstien of North Palm Beach, who is helping to manage the venture.

Shade matters, because sun, dust and the elements degrade a boat's paint, wood surfaces and exterior furnishings. And just painting a megayacht can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. "The sun can be vicious on a paint job, just like on your car," said Kitty McGowan, who runs the U.S. Superyacht Association based in Fort Lauderdale. Plus, a covered dock makes it cooler for the live-aboard crew — sometimes a dozen or two people — to do daily maintenance and other work. The Harbour Twenty-Six project will include a clubhouse, swimming pool, security and other perks.

A different megayacht project was planned on the same site before the recession, but it was shelved with the crisis. The nearly 6-acre property went into foreclosure. An investor group bought it and then sold it for $6 million to the current developers, Battle Plan Capital led by Nathan Cox. Cox mostly builds single-family homes in his home state of Alabama. He had come to Fort Lauderdale to see a colleague and heard about the property. He asked all of the people he could about the direction of the yacht industry and the need for parking — and received so many positive comments that he jumped in.

"Either I was the biggest laughing stock of South Florida and everyone was in on the joke, or this was a pretty good opportunity," Cox said in a phone interview from Alabama.

Cox's group aims to break ground this summer on the site of the former Summerfield Boat Works. Construction should take just under a year, with sales of all 26 docks fetching about $50 million. The group unveiled the project at the Miami International Boat Show in February and has five reservations for the slips so far, each secured with a $25,000 nonbinding deposit, Cox said.

The big crunch for parking superyachts around Fort Lauderdale tends to come in the fall. The boats stop off between summer cruising in the U.S. northeast or Europe and winter cruising in the Caribbean. In hurricane season, the big boats prefer spaces in protected coves or upriver — away from the coastline.

New docks upriver can offer other benefits for buyers, brokers say. Megayacht owners can save money on insurance because the facilities meet new hurricane codes. Plus, owners, generally corporations, get tax advantages from buying, and they can make some of their money back by renting out the space when they're not using it.

"Harbour Twenty-Six is the first new marina project in Broward in a long time," said Kit Denison, a marine industry veteran who is helping to sell docks up to 170 feet long at the venture. But don't look for many more projects like it. Waterfront property for marinas remains limited in South Florida, and some spots have piers over submerged lands that are leased from the state and not owned outright. Developers prefer not to sell docks over rented lands, partly because of extra fees involved.

And really, how many buyers can afford $1.8 million or $3 million docks, plus monthly maintenance?

dhemlock@sunsentinel.com, 305-810-5009, @dhemlock on Twitter