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July 2015 Join The Triton and Marina 84 Sports Bar and Grill to network on July 1.
C2 Inconveniences overcome Bring captain, owner solutions to solve your problems. A3
Eight bells for Whale Round-the-world sailor a mentor to many in yachting. A4
Florida repair tax capped There will be no tax on boat repairs over $1 million. A6
Set sail for Triton Bay Dives divulge treasures from seahorses to whale sharks. B1
Carlyle to buy LMC; tenants hope business remains a yard By Dorie Cox Lauderdale Marine Center (LMC) is under contract to be sold to Carlyle U.S. Real Estate Group in a deal expected to close on July 1, according to a source close to the transaction who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. “Immediate and long-term plans are to operate in the same manner as it operates today,” the source said. “Almost all onsite personnel will be retained and no changes are expected other than those in the ordinary course of business.” Neither LMC nor Carlyle executives would comment on the sale, but with no official word, there has been speculation from tenants and business partners surrounding the sale and the future of the property, located on Ft. Lauderdale’s New River just east of the I-95 overpass. “I think there will always be
FROM LAND TO SEA: Lauderdale Marine Center, with the skyline of Ft. Lauderdale in the background, is one of the PHOTO BY DAVE KRESGE/davekresge.com largest service and repair facilities in the United States. speculation when a private equity group purchases a marine entity,” said Philip Purcell, executive director of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida (MIASF). “That said, LMC is a thriving yard that is a valuable component of our industry.” One LMC employee said the yard wanted to communicate with employees and tenants before talking to the press. They had not done so by June 18. In the past few years, LMC has acquired adjacent properties, including River Bend Marine Center and six other lots, to make the property about 60 acres. This makes it Florida’s largest yacht facility and the largest yacht repair facility in the United States in terms of how many large vessels it
can haul and service, according to Jim Parks, operations manager at LMC. It is owned by Dr. Selvin Passen and Morio Mito. “It’s difficult to give exact numbers because we can mix and match according to boat sizes,” Parks said. The yard has 19 covered sheds for boats up to 165 feet, space for about 70 others under 100 feet and about 150 slips, he said. LMC handles hauling, pressure washing, docking, some rental equipment and vessel storage, but does not do service and repair work. Instead, customers have the option to work with about 60 on-site contractors or provide their own licensed contractors. “It’s up to the owner, crew or contractors; we don’t get involved or mark-up services,” Parks said. “It’s a
Captains prioritize family, emergencies, career With a career choice that for many means being on call 24/7, a personal life can be an inconvenient thing. When they are able to match some time away from the vessel with a personal milestone such as the birth of a child or the passing of a parent, captains will say they were lucky From the Bridge that the boat didn’t Lucy Chabot Reed need them, or they were lucky to be between jobs. Is that really what it is? Lucky to work for an understanding owner? Lucky to thread the needle of taking personal time during a spate of no emergencies? Is having a personal life in yachting really a matter of luck? For the captains engaged in this month’s From the Bridge conversation,
it’s not. At least, not any more. Most of these captains have all found yacht positions that fit with their personal life goals. One captain with a young son works on a yacht based in South Florida that cruises the Bahamas and Keys. He made the effort to find that match. “My family means more to me than anything,” this captain said. “It might have taken me some time to find, but I did. Larger vessels won’t accommodate a lot of time away from the boat, but I told the owner from the get-go this was important to me.” As always, individual comments are not attributed to any one person in particular so as to encourage frank and open discussion. The attending captains are identified in a photograph on page 8. Another captain was single for a
long time, and credits part of that with working in yachting. “I had girlfriends but had no life,” this captain said. “The dream was to find an owner with a white boat in Ft. Lauderdale. You’ve got to be local to have a life.” But it’s the life of “having it all” – a career, a house with a white picket fence, kids – that is difficult to juggle in yachting. Other kinds of lives are available. “You don’t have to be local,” another captain said. “I see my career as a very varied life. I have chosen this career because it fulfills me completely. I like my career enough that it’s OK to miss those things [weddings, births, deaths]. But it never makes me feel like I want to be a lawyer. … I’ve missed weddings.
See BRIDGE, page A8
do-it-yourself yard on a very large scale. The equation works because it is so large.” Carlyle’s parent company, The Carlyle Group, has holdings in residential and commercial real estate, including condos and hotels. That has some tenants concerned. “As one of the biggest on-site contractors, we see this yard is successful under the current operating mode,” said Chris Brown, owner of High Seas Yacht Service and Hydraulic, tenants since about 1998. “I have talked with a lot of different people about the new owners and every indication I have leads me to believe that they will continue to operate in the same way.” A lot of people would be affected by
See LMC, page A10
TRITON SURVEY
Do you expect the buyer’s broker to know the boat? No 13%
Yes 34%
It would help 53%
This month we take a look at the relationship between captains and brokers during a sale. See story on C1.