Florida Marina Adopts Margaritaville Brand

Minto Communities and Margaritaville Holdings have begun construction on a new deep-water marina located at Harbour Isle, a 220-acre private island community on Anna Maria Sound in Bradenton, Florida. The One Particular Harbour marina will feature a relaxed, casual-luxe, coastal-inspired design evoked by Jimmy Buffet’s enduring hit song Margaritaville.

Minto Communities bought the property, site of a previous marina, in 2009. “The company that we purchased the property from had taken the old marina out and had planned on updating it. So when we purchased the property, the entitlements for the marina were there but it wasn’t constructed,” said William Bullock, Minto senior vice president.

The previous owner’s plans for the renovated marina called only for wet slips, but Bullock noted that the marina industry has changed over the last decade. “A while ago it was more about Seacraft class boats and the 40-footer sitting in the water, but our research indicates that today its more center console or cuddy console. Folks want them out of the water, high and dry,” Minto said. “So we have reduced our wet footprint—which all the agencies are happy about—and moved some of those slips into the high and dry.”

The marina at One Particular Harbour will include a ships’ store and 55 wet slips designed to accommodate boats ranging in size from 37 feet to 58 feet. The aluminum floating docks will feature brown composite lumber treads. The dock is designed to withstand a Category 3 hurricane unloaded and a Category 1 hurricane loaded. Each slip will offer electric service with both 30-amp and 50-amp connections.

The dry dock building is 152 feet wide and 192 feet long and can hold up to 128 boats. The building is designed to withstand 150 mph winds.

Nearby amenities will include up to 30,000 square feet of commercial space with a signature Margaritaville restaurant, entertainment and shops.

One of the biggest appeals of the marina is that fact that it provides direct, no-bridge access to the Gulf of Mexico, Bullock added. “There are no idle zones other than 60 seconds to get to the main channel, and once you’re in the main channel, you are in intercoastal. In five minutes you’re in the mouth of Tampa Bay, right at Egmont Key. Direct access, where you’re under power within a minute or two, is hard to find, especially in a new marina.”

Bullock said Minto Communities chose Technomarine as the general contractor because it provided the most complete and well-organized competitive bid. The Midolo brothers from Marine Contracting Group out of Punta Gorda have also been key partners in the project, performing all of the in-water work, such as dredge and breakwater walls. John Bergsteiner, Inc. out of Bradenton installed all of the driven seawall material and Lovin Construction, out of Bradenton, has done all of the cap and tie-back concrete work.

Construction of the new wet basin area involved the removal of all existing seawalls, tie-backs and some remnant perimeter dockage. The marina’s in-water dredging, started in April, was completed in July. Seawall construction had started by early fall and dock installation is slated for completion by the end of the year.

“Construction is on schedule and we are in preliminary discussions with Margaritaville regarding amenities,” Bullock said. He anticipates all construction activities will be completed by the second quarter of 2018.