McKerns Development Press and PR

mckerns@mckernsdevelopment.com

So, I feel for the iguanas. (They are so cold they are falling out of trees.) And the news is showing a 3 year old girl picking up the stiff iguanas. Stacking them up like cordwood for iguana related needs, I guess.

It’s cold in Florida, and we’ve lost the weather-related smugness we normally have this time of year. In fact, I was walking on Duval Street in downtown Key West the other day and even the chickens and roosters looked cold, hunched in trees instead of strutting around. Even Hemingway’s cats looked downright miserable. They tell me that these cats protect their territory, but this day they just wanted warmth in numbers. (You could almost see them up on the wall beckoning in stranger cats with their six toes and weird thumbs. C’mere,they whisper, I’ll show you his typewriter.)

But, as I was there to evaluate marinas, let’s get to that. Now I’ll admit it’s hard to estimate the draw of a tiki bar when it’s 20 out because only the die-hards are going to be snuggling up to a beer or frozen rum runner while the wind is whipping up off the water like that. So, the tiki bar gets a pass, and we’ll call it an essential.

What else is unique or essential? First of all, there are a lot of marinas in the Keys, in fact, you’d be hard pressed to swing a dead cat (sorry Hemingway’s) and not hit a marina, so having a marina in the Keys alone is not unique.

The trick to a marina’s success is finding that sweet spot, the spot that keeps you out of the danger zone that caused the previous owner to go under.  So what’s the draw for any particular marina?

Having a boat is not cheap, but there are levels of wealth, just as there are levels of poverty. What market level are you trying to reach? Big boats?

While the trend in boats is megayachts, you don’t see that in the Keys. No deep water or megayacht slips aside from the cruise ship spots along Mallory Square. Without that capability of docking the really big boats, your draw is only going to be local, no matter how big the fishing boat.  

I’d love to see more marinas expanding their docks from fixed to floating, and with better configurations – a marina does not have to be what you can park horizontally along your seawall.

Is your sweet spot in numbers? Your “guys” are hanging around socializing, maybe RV or boat brought them there –and the key to getting them to stay there is cheap beer (and keep it coming), big screen tv’s, rip-roaring fun and games? If so, you’d want to market by numbers and expand your population both on water and land.

Is it exclusivity? If so, can you get enough to make it exclusive and still support the place? And can you get them locked down to a long enough commitment, or create a renewable, refresh-with-new-members market?

At least two of the properties I saw, had been or were soon to be marketed as unique and upscale.  If you are going to do that, you have to ask, (as the boat owner will be) “Okay, I have money, therefore I could go anywhere, why would I go here?” If you can’t answer that, or have answered it incorrectly, you have a problem.

And if your place is “exclusive”, but your surrounding areas are awful, please think about controlling what your guests will see and experience before they arrive down the lane to your marina. Landscaping, attractive walls and gates, entry statement, signage, rerouting onsite traffic, changing entry approach…think about it all.

Do I have to upgrade, and if so to what?

First, there’s the physical plant. Do I need to tell marina owners that if your docks are mere splinters reminiscent of planking and your equipment (including life safety) is leaning into the water, you need to upgrade? Apparently, I do.

And maybe you guys don’t care about the bathrooms, but if you want to bring the women there, you should care. (If a bathroom is not spotless and upscale, a woman will hover over it and through it, not touching anything, except with wads of paper towels and clumps of toilet paper, and if your trash can is full, that paper will be squeamishly tossed onto your floor next to the bin, not in it.)

Reach me at mckerns@mckernsdevelopment.com