Bradford Marine in Florida Starts Renovations

Bradford Marine, a fixture in Fort Lauderdale’s marina and ship repair industry for more than 50 years, was acquired by Fort Lauderdale Yacht Harbor, LLC in January 2019. Now the new owners are undertaking a three-phase renovation project that will optimize the company’s long and short-term dockage, as well as its facilities for yacht repair and maintenance, and brokerage sales.

“We are excited to get started on this multi-phase renovation project to revitalize this iconic facility, and continue to build on its esteemed legacy,” said John Kelly, CEO of Fort Lauderdale Yacht Harbor. “As lifelong boaters, we understand the needs and challenges of yacht owners, captains and crew. Our vision is to combine our business experience and love of yachting to bring highly valued updates to Bradford Marina.”

The company started with an extensive cleanup of the facility as soon as it took over operations. That included the removal of 16 dumpsters of waste and 20 un-utilized PODS. The marina also began work on the engineering and design work for the upgrades.

The project, which will consist of three phases, has been carefully planned to minimize any disruptions in normal operation. The goal is to serve Bradford’s community of customers that have long-term dockage agreements with the marina.

“For that reason, many of our phase one upgrades are directed at improving and adding to our docks,” Kelly said. All docks will be receiving upgraded electrical infrastructure, and the roofs on the covered docks are being re-sealed to eliminate any leaks. The owners will be installing a new, facility-wide, high-speed Wi-Fi network, enabling every passenger and crew member on a yacht to stream video and data at the same time without any congestion on the network. There will also be a crew fitness center that features state-of-the-art exercise equipment.

The marina will get a facelift, too, with repainted and polished exteriors, new landscaping and paving, more parking and additional signage for improved traffic flow. There will be a new security perimeter and a gated security entrance, staffed by a security guard, which provides a high-speed entrance for owners, captains and crews.

The marina owners plan to eventually add new dockage as well. The marina currently has 162 long-term and transient slips with 11,000 linear feet of covered dockage, and can accommodate vessels up to 188 feet long. It offers maintenance services, with interior and light exterior repairs taking place at dockside and more comprehensive work at the dedicated service area, which takes up about 50 percent of the space at the marina.

Bradford Marine’s owners are working with permitting agencies with the hope of breaking ground on phase one improvements in the first quarter of 2020. That work should be completed by the end of the year.