Baltimore Marina Ready to Add More Docks

Located in the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, Maryland, Harbor East Marina is halfway through a two-phase $8.5 million project to replace its docks and upgrade utilities. Phase one was completed the third week of June, and phase two begins in the fall of 2017. The marina, managed by Oasis Marinas, is going upscale. The marina is owned by Harbor East, LLC, which is committed to redeveloping Baltimore’s Harbor East, a growing and vibrant neighborhood.
Dissen & Juhn Company is the general contractor on the design-build project, along with Moffat & Nicol, Mecco-Sullivan, Marina Electrical Equipment, Cahill Electric, Cahill Plumbing & Heating and Absolute Fire Protection.

Phase one included the demolition and disposal of 66,000 square feet of dockage, replaced by 70,000 square feet of dockage. Dissen & Juhn said the project presents unique challenges of working in an urban area. The docks were trucked in and unloaded several blocks away from the marina. They were barged to the location because unloading at the site would have created a problem for the luxury hotel adjacent to the marina, and space was at a premium at an adjacent parking lot.

Brian Dandridge, Oasis Marina’s account manager said, “For the second phase, which will start September 15, we will pull up all of the outside piers, dredge and put in new floating docks.” The docks will all feature Brazilian ipe wood.
The marina is being built to accommodate superyachts, with slips up to 165 feet. It will also replace the 40-plus-year-old electrical system with a state-of-the-art system providing up to double 100-amp power. A new retail store will sell clothing from Polo and Helly Hansen, Costa sunglasses and similar products.

Because of boaters’ changing use of electronic media, Harbor East has chosen to boost its Wi-Fi services to accommodate streaming from HBO Go, Netflix and similar services and to discontinue cable television service everywhere except in the lounge. That’s a growing trend at marinas, Dandridge said.

Harbor East Marina’s slips are filled by 50 percent transient boaters and 50 percent annual slip holders (there’s a waiting list for the annual slips). The new interior docks are reserved for transient boaters under the terms of the $1.65 million Building Infrastructure Grant (BIG) that the marina received from the Maryland Department Natural Resources.