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DOWNTOWN HAMPTON UPGRADES PUBLIC PIERS


Hampton, Virginia, billed as "America's original downtown,"
recently
had its public, transient slips renovated by renowned, marina
constructor
Bellingham Marine. The company removed the existing piers and
installed its
world-class, Unifloat concrete floating docks.
The waterfront, located on the lower Chesapeake Bay, is now home to
26 double slips that provide berthing for transient pleasure boats up
to
110' in length. Bellingham also provided convenient dockside
accommodations, including 50-amp or twin 30-amp power pedestals, water
and a
pumpout facility.
The Hampton Public Piers is Virginia's first certified Clean
Marina,
indicating that it has developed an environmentally-friendly management
program. Visiting boaters can take advantage of a host of amenities,
such
as the nearby waterfront hotel with pool access, grocery store,
laundry,
drug store, specialty shops and two boat yards offering repair service.

Bellingham Marine produces Unifloat sal****er systems, Unideck
freshwater
systems and Unistack dry storage systems worldwide.
Contact Bellingham Marine, P.O. Box 8, Bellingham, WA 98227.
www.bellingham-marine.com

Strange, I remember "America's original downtown" as a working
waterfront, Sunset creek to Hampton river were jammed with trawlers,
crab boats, fish/oyster packing and crab picking houses, with the
exception of Hampton Yacht club, and then it was just a "BIG" old house
on pilngs. till they moved it ashore.
Minus the sewage/waste water runoff, I prefer the old waterfront.
Reminds me of whats happening to Ballard and Fremont. UD

Minus the sewage/waste water runoff, I prefer the old waterfront.
Reminds me of whats happening to Ballard and Fremont. UD

***************

And is only going to continue at an accelerated pace.

I spoke to one of my regular business contacts after he attended a
marina owner's association meeting. He passed along some discouraging
indications. A guest speaker at the meeting advised the marina
operators to immediately and aggressively begin raising slip rentals,
and to forget about trying to balance an increased rental income with
the challenge of keeping the marinas full. The guest speaker
recommended that marina owners raise rates until they achieve a 10%
vacancy, and made a case that if the 10% vacancy is the result of
maximized slip fees the net profit to the marina operator would be
higher than if the marina were completely filled with boaters who chose
to moor there because they thought the rates were comparatively
reasonable.

Same old problem. Boat moorage is not arguably "the highest and best
use" of waterfront property in an urban area (from a purely economic
standpoint)- but it's an activity that has to take place along a
shoreline. As property values and taxes continue to increase, we will
see a continuing relaxation of official interpretations of "water
dependent" uses for shoreline properties subject to those restrictions
(common in Seattle, for example).

Looks like they're going to build a big condo complex at the site of
the old boatyard just past CSR Marina, with a few dozen slips
(undoubtedly to be sold/leased to the condo owners) tossed into the mix
to skate past the "water dependent use" zoning provision.

The problem with the 10% vacancy model is that the marinas are filled
to capacity now. Raising moorage rates to create a 10% vacancy
everywhere would mean that rates will go up until 10% of the boating
public is literally priced out of the pastime. That would be a shame-
but it's a private business, not a charity, and the almighty buck
trumps all other considerations.