Friday, January 13, 2006
City Marina takes annual award
Service, fringe benefits for customers earn facility top honors in industry
By Kyle Stock
The Post and Courier
Charleston City Marina has been named the top facility of its kind by a
national trade magazine.
Marina Dock Age Magazine, a trade publication that goes to some 17,200
individuals and businesses, named the Charleston dock "Marina of the Year" in
its upcoming March issue. The City Marina was selected over about 40 other
applicants.
"It means that we hold it as an example of what other marinas should try to
be doing," said Janice Gordon, publisher of Marina Dock Age.
The Illinois-based magazine considers a variety of criteria in crowning a
winner, including growth, charitable giving, customer satisfaction and
environmental sensitivity. Its editors gave the Lockwood Drive facility credit
for rebuilding after Hurricane Hugo and adding a 1,530-foot "megadock" in 2003
for super-sized yachts. However, Gordon said, service is the big factor, and the
Charleston dock scored points by offering boating clients cable TV, golf carts,
a courtesy van and showers.
Robbie Freeman, managing partner of the marina, said he was particularly
pleased with the award because it was the first year his staff applied for it.
"I think it will certainly help put Charleston on the map in having
first-class facilities and also having facilities that can accommodate yachts of
all sizes," Freeman said.
In 1994, the city leased the facility to the City Marina Co., a unit of the
Beach Co. Freeman said the operation's revenue picked up quickly, but it did not
turn a profit for six or seven years, because Beach was pouring money into
upgrades - about $12 million to date.
Today, however, business is good and the marina supports some 30 ancillary
businesses, including a liquor store and seven yacht brokers. About 200 people
work at or around the city docks.
And there are no signs of the market cooling off. Freeman said the Charleston
dock market is quickly getting competitive for boaters seeking marina slips.
"It's not like we have a waiting list, but at the rate the industry is
growing I can see Charleston being very tight for slips in the not-so-distant
future," he said. "We think long term it's going to be very profitable for us."
The City Marina has 400 slips, two-thirds of which rent for $10 per foot of
boat per month. The owner of a 28-foot sailboat, for example, would shell out
$3,360 a year to dock there. The remaining 133 slips rent nightly for $1.80 per
foot of vessel. Freeman said the prices are relatively high for Charleston but
affordable compared with other East Coast boat docks. He noted that a number of
Florida boaters store their boats here in the winter to save money.
There are almost 12,000 marinas in the United States, according to the Marina
Operators Association of America.
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