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.

[mark valentine]

I'm told the Chinese are behind all of this...they're buying everything )-:

[Scarlett]

They just bought another marina in San Diego and raised the slip rates by 65%