MarineMax sees wave of support for airport lease

Giant yacht retailer and manufacturer MarineMax will ink a lease agreement with the St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport to build a new manufacturing hub. 

Clearwater-based MarineMax Inc. and its company Intrepid Powerboats received the unanimous approval from county commissioners during the Tuesday meeting to enter a 50-year-long lease for the airport’s waterfront property, which will allow MarineMax to build larger yachts. 

“One of our concerns is growth. We have a group of customers that we call the Intrepid Nation who are urging us to build better bigger vessels, which is a good problem to have, but it’s another problem when you can’t do it on the piece of property you are at,” Intrepid President Ken Clinton said at the meeting. 

“This opportunity is going to allow us to build the larger vessels that are in demand, which need to be on the water,” he said. 

The site, which was the home of the former Turtle Club, is ideal for MarineMax and its company, as it has access to deep water for yachts that otherwise cannot be transported over land. It is also close to the airport and has an “island effect,” with low surrounding connectivity, ideal for manufacturing, MarineMax wrote in its proposal. 

Under MarineMax’s proposal, it would build a 132,000-square-foot manufacturing building, a 400-space parking garage, a travel lift well for hauling and launching yachts, and a docking facility. 

The new hub at the airport would also be fairly close to the existing Largo facility, located off of Belcher Road. 

Intrepid’s existing Largo facility has 415 employees. The proposed second facility will create an additional 300 jobs that would pay an average of $50,000.

Commissioner Rene Flowers reminded the team that the nearby Pinellas Technical College can be a talent pipeline to fill the new jobs. 

MarineMax’s conceptual plans for the site. Image: Pinellas County documents.

“We are excited about the opportunity to stay in Pinellas County,” MarineMax VP of Real Estate Sam Lowry said to the commissioners.

A request for negotiations regarding the future of the airport property was advertised late last year and MarineMax was the sole proposer. 

Airport director Tom Jewsbury commented the project has been “a long time coming” and that he is looking forward to the new partnership.