The Marina Industry: Building Moats, Storing Boats - [Business Breakdowns, EP.170]

This is Zack Fuss. Today, we are breaking down the U.S. Marina Industry. In the U.S. there are more than 11,000 marinas, grossing over $6 billion in sales.  Today, there is a 12 to 1 ratio of registered boats versus the supply of rentable wet slips and dry storage spaces. Zoning regulations lead to limited supply growth, which has led to a sustained backdrop of strong, profitable growth for the industry.  To break down the industry, I am joined by David Chesner, co-CEO of Grove Point Marinas, and Josh Koplewicz, managing partner of Thayer Street Partners. We discuss how Marinas are currently evolving from a largely local and independent model to one that is institutionalizing as an asset class and lowering the industry's cost of capital, helping to finance growth. And, to illustrate the unit economics, we cover the largest players in the space, including publicly traded Sun Communities’ Safe Harbor Marina business. Please enjoy this breakdown of the Marina Industry.  Register for the Business Breakdowns x Founders Conference. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Public: Invest in stocks, bonds, options, crypto, and more in one place. A High-Yield Cash Account is a secondary brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Funds from this account are automatically deposited into partner banks where they earn a variable interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance. Neither Public Investing nor any of its affiliates is a bank. US only. Learn more at public.com/disclosures/high-yield-account. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @ReustleMatt | @domcooke | @zbfuss  Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes (00:00:00) Welcome to Business Breakdowns (00:05:21) Overview of the Marina Industry (00:08:00) Revenue and Margins in the Marina Business (00:10:36) Operational Improvements and Best Practices (00:12:54) Challenges in Marina Development (00:14:10) Competitive Landscape and Market Players (00:27:02) Growth Strategies and Financial Insights (00:34:28) Risks and Resilience in the Marina Industry (00:39:08) Lessons Learned from the Marina Industry