Front Street Shipyard is poised to change hands before the start of the new year. The owners reached a deal with Safe Harbor Marinas that so far has met with local government approval.
Based in the Midcoast Maine city of Belfast, Front Street Shipyard benefits from deep water right at its docks. It also has 1,500 feet (457 meters) of waterfront. Its proximity to popular summer cruising grounds and its refit and repair capabilities for a variety of yachts and megayachts earned it loyal customers shortly after it opened its doors in 2011. For example, the famed sailing superyacht Atlantide inaugurated a new shed in 2018 (below). Front Street Shipyard further offers new construction, though not for superyachts.
Safe Harbor Marinas owns and operates nearly 150 marinas and shipyards globally. Just this past summer, for instance, Safe Harbor acquired Monaco Marine. In the United States, the company owns properties primarily along the East Coast, from Florida to Maine. They include Newport Shipyard, Montauk Yacht Club, and Savannah Yacht Center. It further has holdings in Central American regions like Costa Rica.
In a letter to the Belfast planning board in October, Greg Glavin, Safe Harbor’s regional vice president for Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire, requested a formal discussion of its takeover request at a November meeting. According to the letter, Safe Harbor and the owners of Front Street Shipyard signed an agreement in April, to close December 31. “Safe Harbor plans to maintain the property as a working marina and boatyard,” Glavin notes. “We are committed to continuous investment in the asset and its employees.” In fact, he states, Safe Harbor intends to spend $5 million within its first three years of ownership. Furthermore, it doesn’t plan substantial changes in the city-approved uses or operations. That includes preserving the publicly accessible harbor walk.
JB Turner (above), who co-founded and co-owns Front Street Shipyard, provided a letter to the city council and planning board in November, supporting the sale. “For my partners and me, this marks a bittersweet milestone, but we believe the time is right for the transition,” he writes. Additionally, he states, “We expect very few public-facing changes,” with the shipyard remaining a supportive member of the community. “Most importantly, I will continue working full time in my current position at Front Street Shipyard for at least the next three years,” Turner indicates. This is as much to preserve continuity as it is to ensure a smooth transition upon his retirement, he says.
The planning board approved the plans in November. The city council has already held one meeting and will hold a second reading and public hearing next week.
Front Street Shipyard was a major transformation of the Belfast waterfront when it opened. For a decade prior to its establishment, the property, more than three acres in total, sat unused and deteriorating. It had been home to a sardine-processing plant, but it closed in 2001.
Front Street Shipyard frontstreetshipyard.com