Rockaway is on the Rise

The Rockaway Peninsula is currently undergoing an exciting period of unprecedented transformation. With an influx of public and private funds leading to a boom in real estate and cultural offerings, development is rampant. Fueled by urban revitalization projects, and new commercial and residential ventures, millions of dollars have been spent restoring beaches and infrastructure, with millions more slated for the near future. 

The city has outlined a visionary waterfront plan to provide visitors and residents greater access to the shoreline and waterways. Dozens of new businesses are popping up, along with a flourishing art scene, leisure and hospitality outposts, and a growing surf community. Thousands of new housing units have recently come on line with more in the works. This iconic urban beach town is in the process of being wholly reimagined, much like neighborhoods across lower Manhattan and Brooklyn experienced in the final years of the 20th century.

Owned by our family for sixty years, the 85th Street Marina and Pier is a 2.5-acre, deep water marina that has been in operation for almost two centuries, long before Rockaway was even a town. Situated in the heart of Rockaway Beach and surrounded by a variety of attractions and transportation options, few properties are as ideally positioned as ours to be part of Rockaway's reimagining. Its rare C3 zoning designation allows for a wide range of potential uses for the site.

Location

Easily accessible by public and private transportation: 

• 1 mile from the Rockaway Ferry landing

• 1.8 miles from the Gateway National Recreation Area

• 4 blocks from Rockaway Beach the largest urban beach in the U.S.  

• 5 blocks from the 90th Street subway station

• 8 blocks from the Cross Bay Bridge

• 20 minutes from JFK by car

• 57 min to Manhattan by boat

• 45 minutes to Manhattan by car

Gateway National Recreation Area

The 85th Street marina offers a panoramic view of Manhattan and is Jamaica Bay's closest marina to the open sea. Teeming with wildlife, and with the water purity the cleanest it's been in a century,  Jamaica Bay is the environmental soul of New York City. It is also the centerpiece of Gateway National Recreation Area, the fourth most visited site in the National Parks system, with 8.7 million visitors in 2022.

C3 Zoning

As indicated on the map below, C3 zoned properties are extremely rare in New York City. Even more unique is a C3 zoned marina in the heart of Rockaway Beach, home to 130,000 permanent residents and millions of visitors annually.

C3 zoning allows for marinas, yacht clubs, food trucks, restaurants, motels, boatels, trailer parks, retail and related residential construction. "C3 and C3A districts also permit residences and community facilities.”

Changing Demographics

The silver wave of aging baby boomers is a key factor behind institutional investors' preoccupation with Marinas. 10,000 baby boomers retire every day in the United States. The growing popularity of recreational boating among this group continues to drive boat sales and related markets. Focusing on this demographic has been key to the success   of companies like Freedom Boat Club and Carefree Boat Club which provide members access to a fleet of boats for a fee.

See Cornell Real Estate Review, Rising Tides: Consolidation and Development in the Marina Industry

Market Opportunity

Just as Rockaway is on the rise, so is the boating industry. In 2021, national boat sales soared to $56.7 billion– the second highest year in nearly two decades; a trend expected to continue indefinitely. According to experts, the surge experienced by the boating industry during the pandemic was no fluke and is here to stay. Going forward, we anticipate a customer base of recreational boaters from Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Long Island's South Shore, as well as the summer visitors and NYC tourists.

Marinas as an Investment Opportunity

Although the number of recreational boaters and the number of boats manufactured in the U.S have steadily increased over the last twenty years, our nation’s inventory of marinas has not. This has led to a current nationwide shortage of marina space and has sent mooring costs skyrocketing. This is the crisis now facing boaters, with no end in sight. Densely populated areas such as NYC have been notably impacted by this scarcity of marinas.

Despite its 520 miles of shoreline and being located in the nation's third largest boating state, New York CIty has relatively few recreational marinas. This can be attributed mostly to traditionally fierce competition for the city's waterfront space and increasingly restrictive building codes, making new marina construction cost-prohibitive.

In the last fifty years, only one new marina has been constructed in NYC, Brooklyn’s Oneº15, whose build out cost alone exceeded thirty million dollars. This nationwide shortage of marinas presents a windfall opportunity for marina operators, a trend that has not gone unnoticed by the financial community. In addition to being attracted by the consistent revenues generated by boat slip rentals, especially during economic downturns, institutional investors are also motivated by recent changes in REIT tax codes. Marina properties as institutional financial opportunities are considered extremely viable as long term investments. 

The Boat Club Model 

The concept of the sharing economy has revolutionized the boating industry, a key component of which are Boat Clubs. Boat Clubs generate revenue from membership fees and additional services.They provide a convenient, cost-effective way for members to enjoy boating without the hassle and expense of owning and maintaining their own boats. As indicated on the map, there are currently seventeen national boat club franchises operating in the New York area, but none in NYC proper. The 85th Street marina would be a great location for the city's first club.

Boat Club Acquisitions in the News

In 2019, Freedom Boat Club was purchased by the Brunswick Corp., manufacturer of a dozen major boat brands. Since then, "Freedom" has doubled in size with 370 locations and 50,000 members worldwide. In 2021, Minnesota-based Your Boat Club  sold forty percent of its company to French boat manufacturer, Beneteau. In February 2023, Yamaha Motors purchased Skipperi, Europe's largest subscription boat club.

The Future

A multi-phase plan to develop the property as a mixed-use, destination marina, focused on recreational boating, tourism, and sport fishing, would capitalize on both Rockaway’s renaissance and the surging boating industry. Beautification and rehabilitation of the site would demonstrate responsible stewardship of Jamaica Bay. Refurbishing the marina's steamboat pier and its two-story cottages, reinforcing the bulkhead, dredging the mooring area and erecting a clubhouse with a waterfront cafe are just some of the possibilities. 

We are committed to restoring the 85th Street Pier and Marina to the best possible version of its former self – a mixed-use neighborhood marina serving the needs of locals and visitors, with immense potential for further development.

Join us.

A Rich Past

The 85th Street Marina has been operating for 175 years and is currently the only marina in NYC with an historic pier and stilt housing. It has lived many lives; its history is the history of Rockaway. In 1844, it was the site of Rockaway's first business, a fisherman's inn. In 1868, it was Rockaway's first railroad station, and in 1878, it was  home to Rockaway's first volunteer fire department. In the 1880s, it was a steamboat landing known as Hammels Pier and the site of restaurants, hotels and boating clubs. In the 1920's, it was home to the Hammels Dock Protective Association, an early grassroots environmental organization, formed to combat pollution in Jamaica Bay.