The asking price for the Port Sidney Marina — a privately owned facility with 320 berths at the foot of Beacon Avenue — has dropped after about a year on the market.
It's now $17.2 million, down from $18.9 million, said associate vice-president Ken Cloak of Colliers Canada.
The owner is Kim Pullen of Port Sidney Development Corporation Ltd., who has owned it for about 25 years. "It's just time for them to move on," Cloak said.
The marina has been on the market for several years, off and on, said Sidney Mayor Larry Cross, who is not concerned about the sale, noting a lease is in place, along with requirements that any new owners will be responsible for carrying on.
"It's never been very active in terms of the town activities up 'til this point, but it's never been a problem either. It's been a good, steady business in the town."
The marina's tax levy for 2013 is $119,086.
Cloak and his associate with Sotheby's International Realty Canada have sold several marinas over the years, usually to owners of other marinas. "It's a trophy property, no question," he said.
Pullen also owns two Church and State wineries, one in Victoria and the other in Oliver, and is spending more time in the Okanagan, said Lyndell Curry, general manager of the marina. Prospective buyers showing the most interest in the marina have been pension-fund representatives, she said.
Cloak said marinas are doing "very well" as investments, having bounced back from the slowdown in the U.S. economy four years ago. Existing marinas are a valued commodity, given the difficulty of building new ones due to environmental issues, he added. The water lots are leased from the Crown.
Several small marinas in the area are also for sale. Among them is the Shoal Harbour Marina on Harbour Road in Sidney, listed for nearly $2 million. Configured for about 20 slips, it has 800 feet of moorage docks and a 3,000-square-foot shop and office. The sale includes the liquor licence that once belonged to the Blue Peter Pub and Restaurant, which was destroyed by fire in 2011, according to the Colliers listing.
The Port Sidney Marina offers easy access to downtown Sidney, ferries and the airport, and is almost a tourist attraction in its own right, Cloak said.
The sales brochure describes the marina as "a sophisticated oasis for the discerning marine traveler," and "one of the finest marina destinations on the West Coast of North America."
The Sotheby's website says demand for moorage at Port Sidney is consistently high, with a current waiting list of 160.
The Collier's brochure notes that marina operations are housed in a 5,300-square-foot building that underwent more than $850,000 in renovations in 2004. It includes a gift store, yacht services, guest lounge, commercial-grade laundry facilities and washrooms recently renovated for more than $60,000. Also included is a large covered float for gatherings and a Canada Customs reporting station.
There is 13,500 total feet of dock space for slips ranging from 25 to 138 feet. Of that, nearly 4,000 feet is for long-term dock leases coming due in December 2018 — the first time the long-term moorage commitments are expiring, Cloak said.
At that point, a new owner could either renegotiate those long-term lease commitments or turn that dock space over to daily or annual moorage, he said.
The majority of the marina is either annual or transient moorage.
Cross said the problem with a pure transient marina is the difficulty surviving a long, cool winter. "Long-term leases help you with surviving the winter. So a good mix is healthy."
Moorage rates are:
• $1.50 per foot per night for transient moorage in summer.
• $13.25 per foot per month for vessels 30 feet and under to $21.25 per foot per month for vessels longer than 60 feet.
• $12.50 to $19.50 per foot per month for annual moorage.
