Superyacht boatyard promises Riviera Beach $300 million infusion
Safe Harbor Marinas has been snapping up vacant lots east of Broadway.
Long a mainstay of West Palm Beach, Rybovich Marina has changed hands, and its new owner wants to move the storied yacht builder north to Riviera Beach.
Promising to turn a sprawling stretch of waterfront south of the Blue Heron Bridge into an “international focal point as the largest superyacht repair facility in the United States,” the Dallas-based owner claims its planned move will pump more than $300 million a year into the economy of the perpetually struggling city.
Plunking down $369 million in 2020 for Rybovich’s century-old boatyard on North Flagler Drive and a much smaller one in Riviera, Safe Harbor Marinas has been snapping up vacant lots east of Broadway to make its plans reality.
Its proposal, which has inflamed residents of a nearby neighborhood, received the full-throated support of Riviera’s Planning and Zoning Board on May 25. It is now headed to the City Council for final approval, probably in early July.
Why it’s important: City planners lauded the plan, claiming it could be the realization of the city’s long-held dreams for a vibrant working waterfront. “It’s a matter of trying to get an economic generator,” said planner Curt Thompson, insisting Riviera could become the Puget Sound of the southeast. “This could be that generator.”
Sound familiar? Riviera has infamously paddled these waters before. In 2007, the city planned to seize 800 acres, much of it through eminent domain, and turn it over to Viking Properties for a yachting complex. That plan sunk when a state law was passed, barring governments from grabbing land for private businesses. But, for the roughly 5,100 residents who could have lost their homes, the memory still stings.
The difference? While Safe Harbor wants various concessions from the city, it isn’t seeking any public money or tax incentives. It owns 135 marinas from Maine to Marathon, making it the largest marina owner in the nation. It was bought in 2020 for $2 billion by manufactured home behemoth Sun Communities. In other words, it appears to know what it’s doing.
Yes, but: Residents of the adjacent Lakeview Park said the planned boatyard would destroy their small neighborhood and the city’s plan to turn Broadway into a pedestrian-friendly downtown. At the May 25 meeting, the board also approved an expansion for Viking Yachts, including a two-story retail/office building and boat sales center on Broadway.
Nearby resident Brandy Davis-Balsamo, who hired an attorney to review Safe Harbor’s plan, told the planning board: “The whole Broadway corridor — the vision of it being a really vibrant community for the public — is really just going to be a boatyard,” she said. “We’re all going to be looking at boats. Boats, boats, boats.”
On the other hand: Small business owners said they see great opportunity. Kristina Hebert, president and CEO of the 70-year-old family-owned Ward’s Marine Electric, is one of them.
“Riviera Beach and Rybovich have done one thing: They’ve brought a market to the east coast of the United States, not just Palm Beach County,” she told the planning board. “These boats will come here. They have the deep water and they have the capability of getting them out of the water. That creates the economic cycle. That creates jobs. That creates high-paying jobs.”
So what is planned? Safe Harbor wants to expand its operation across 23 acres, interrupting traffic patterns, closing two streets and adding a new one, to be known as Avenue D. Two office/retail buildings are to be built along Broadway. A large paved boat storage and repair area, capable of housing 33 yachts, a 536-space five-story parking garage and three maintenance warehouses are also proposed.
Combined with nearby businesses, such as Viking, Lockheed Martin and the Port of Palm Beach, approval of the project will “send a message not just to Florida, but the entire marine industry,” said Richard Pinsky, who represents Safe Harbor. “You have the last remaining working waterfront mile in South Florida and you’re preserving it.”
Why are nearby residents skeptical? Safe Harbor didn’t earn their trust when it mistakenly told city officials it bought property owned by two decades-old Broadway businesses: Sea Shell City and Dee’s T-Shirts.
While Pinsky and others apologized for the errors, it fueled suspicions.
Also, arguing that it couldn’t plant trees and shrubs in the middle of a boatyard, it agreed to meet city landscaping requirements by paying $604,000 for trees to be planted elsewhere in the city. While Riviera planners said walls, 20-foot tall trees and lush landscaping will ring the property, residents said it was yet another example of the marina flouting rules at their expense.
“A couple of trees and everything like that — no. We need a 100-foot buffer. Make them put in all the landscaping that’s required,” said resident Travis Bethea, who also said traffic will be a nightmare. “We don’t want the marina right next to us. We don’t want them gone, but don’t put them on top of us.”
What will happen to the boatyard in West Palm Beach? Pinsky, who represents Safe Harbor, said the site is too small. He told Stet that when the marina giant bought Rybovich from Huizenga Holdings it promised to be out of the West Palm Beach yard in 2025. The land is likely to be redeveloped as luxury high-rises.
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