Safe Harbor info?

[drburke]

From a different thread:

No kidding. Last I looked, they had taken over more than a hundred marinas- a lot more than a hundred. Doesn't bode well for competition.

Does anyone now in a Safe Harbor Marina have any input after the takeover?


DRB

[jim rosenthal]

I have received a few packages of advertising from them, I think because I subscribe to SOUNDINGS and I think at least one of the packages was in with an issue.

The advertising packages were very well done, I admit. They also looked VERY expensive- heavy matt paper, beautiful photos, MANY pages. The kind of thing that will cost quite a bit of money, especially as an add-on to a national publication.

Someone is spending a great deal of money at Safe Harbor. The cost of the advertising is trivial compared to the cost of acquiring all those marinas. I just wonder who is funding all that. The outlay is so formidable that it really makes me curious as to who's behind all this.

As to the costs going up, I agree- I suspect lots of folks are in for a rude shock. I hope that the little family-owned (third generation) marina where I have my boat hauled in the winter doesn't get acquired by SH.

[jim rosenthal]

Apparently Safe Harbor is owned by a REIT called Sun Communities, which builds manufactured homes, if I understand it correctly. This was a recent acquisition. At the time of the buyup, SHM already owned 101 marinas.

[Scarlett]

I think their goal is to become a “club” where if you are a member you can reserve guest slips and get some kind of special treatment. We were in the downtown marina in Charleston which is a Safe Harbor and they even had a floating barge that was a lounge for members.

[jim rosenthal]

They claim that they sell fuel at cost to 'members'. Hmmm. I've always wondered about companies that spend advertising dollars like drunken sailors; at some point all those dollars have to be replaced. I don't know how many marinas they've bought in Annapolis; the one I happened to see is a quiet and somewhat shabby little place right on the bay. Nice view, but very exposed; I would not want my boat there. I'll have to look around to see what else they've bought here. I prefer to buy my boating stuff from locally owned companies, if I can. They are anything but local.

[madhatter1]

As I posted on my reason to buy a slip rather than be at the mercy of those owning the ones being bought up I stand by my decision. Still early in the game as things unfold. I bought a slip with the intention to hand down when I pass. Keep it in the family. Just like our priceless Cape Cod cottage my parents bought in 1971. Food for thought.

[Bob Bradley]

I'm sorry, but whenever I see their logo I think it looks like a rounded swastika.

Safe harbor.png

[Timeless72]

I relocated to New England just as SH started moving in on the local marinas. Nine years later, yes, this does look like a monopoly. That aside, they take great care of members and invest in the facilities. I believe Sun acquired SH while they were in middle of all this expansion. Like anything else, I wonder when the chickens will eventually come home to roost. They always do.

We went through the refit at NEB while under SH. Everyone has a gripe or two in a process so involved. I would say they handled us no different than anywhere else. Our struggles were not so much upper management related but the persons handling on a more personal level.

I do like the fact we can travel north or south and stay for free at their other marinas. Fuel prices, with member discount, are just about as good as it gets. Our location may be better than others. We're happy for the most part.

[jim rosenthal]

It appears that you can't just buy a membership- being a member means renting a slip from them. In my area, that would mean either the former Podickory Point marina, or the former Mears Annapolis, either of which would mean giving up the private slip I rent from friends. At a guess, it would at least double the yearly rate that I pay.

I hope SH takes good care of their customers, but at least at this point I have no incentive to rent from them. I would have considered buying a 'membership' to get discounted fuel, but there are plenty of places to buy marine diesel around here, and they do compete for the business. It's also hard for me to imagine that SH will continue to sell diesel at cost to their members. They'll bake the missed profit in someplace else, I shouldn't wonder.

[jmooney]

Someone must see profit , one of the marinas in Coconut Grove sold a few years ago for about $20 million, I was surprised, but the big surprise was when it sold later for about $68 million . Rent has gone from $1400 for a sixty foot boat to about $5000 .