Loggerhead, Stuart

Guy next to me took his 32 Stamas from Fort Pierce to Fort Meyers through the Florida Waterway. Coming back he stopped at Loggerhead overnight. Said the Restaurant was fine, but NOTHING else good to say.

2 pages of detailed application for transient??? Said he thought he was closing on a house or applying for a car loan. Next the total bill was just under $100 ugg for a 32 footer?? $15.00 for overnight electric, 30amp. For a 32 footer.

If this seems reasonable then Loggerhead Stuart is for you.

KY Jelly? Or just bend over and take this!!

Capthead said:

KY Jelly? Or just bend over and take this!!

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Maybe they should put a channel marker up with a skull and crossbones?!!

We have stayed at a few of their properties and they do vary a bit. We were at their Hollywood marina for a couple-three months and really enjoyed it, great location and amenities and a nice seasonal liveaboard community. If we had occasion to want a longer term place to stay in that area it would be our first choice. As part of having a seasonal lease, free transient docking at other Loggerheads was included. We stopped at the Vero Beach (couple days, great facility), Daytona (pretty good, just one night, very nice staff at the time) and Lantana (not ready for prime time back then, and still really a small boat facility).

Greetings,
We stayed at Loggerheads, Vero Beach. I didn't register in (the Admiral's job) but she didn't make any comment as to the application or the fee. She DID comment that it was a nice facility but a bit distant from anything. Cab fees are atrocious! We're going to check out Loggerheads in Hollywood at some point in the near future and we may join that group if we decide to wander around FL.

Sounds like a Yacht club.....

From the scuttlebutt the experience at Sturat is not the norm for Loggerhead Marinas. They had to throw out their live aboards in Stuart due to a disagreement with a Condo Association. Balancing the books this way may not be the best for the whole organizations reputation though.

I don't know the Marina operators there, but last years Condo action to throw out the live-aboards must really have curbed their ability to run a decent, profit making enterprise. Outside of nearby Sunset Marina, Loggerhead could rely on the wintering cruiser fleet to fill their slips pretty well. I think they're trying to run a business with their hands tied behind their back.

It did appear to me that Loggerhead took over marina management for various condos and homeowner associations. That's one thing we really liked about Hollywood; it was in a very upscale secured community with a great pool and gym facility. Nice walking and bicycling too, with good shopping within walking distance of the compound. That looked fairly common among their properties.
If we were staying anywhere for a few days, we typically found renting a car was better than cabs. At Vero, we just took the Whaler to restaurants, bars and the local jitney across the iCW. Fun!

I've never stayed there,
Active Captain user reviews are quite good, rating 4 star out of 5, on 65 reviews (Loggerhead is a sponsor marina).
Transient rate shown is $2.00 per foot 10% discount for mentioning Active Captain. Doesn't seem bad for FL.
30 Amp $9.00 , 50 A $15.00 per day.
They do mention the liveaboard situation.

Above info from AC website

Mule said:

Guy next to me took his 32 Stamas from Fort Pierce to Fort Meyers through the Florida Waterway. Coming back he stopped at Loggerhead overnight. Said the Restaurant was fine, but NOTHING else good to say.

2 pages of detailed application for transient??? Said he thought he was closing on a house or applying for a car loan. Next the total bill was just under $100 ugg for a 32 footer?? $15.00 for overnight electric, 30amp. For a 32 footer.

If this seems reasonable then Loggerhead Stuart is for you.

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I believe there is likely more to the story. Loggerhead has a very good reputation. Certainly not on the lower end of prices. But their daily rate is $2 and weekly is $1.50 per day. Perhaps the 32 was in a 40 or 45' slip and, if so, that would be typical being charged for greater of boat or slip length.

As mentioned by others, Loggerhead does operate quite a few condo and association owned marinas. Also, if renting a slip (as opposed to a transient dock) they are often owned by members, not by Loggerhead or the condo group and they do have an obligation to the slip owner.

We have docked overnight at Loggerhead Stuart and were quite happy with the service.

We stayed the winter of 2010-2011 at Loggerhead, Stuart as liveaboards. The facility was so so and the staff less than friendly. When we booked the reservation for the season we were told we would have use of the swimming pool and the health club.

We arrived in November and learned that the health club was going to be off limits to marina folks as of December. The condo association resented our very presence at the marina our $$ were supporting. Then they changed the entry codes on the gates to the pool. Marina "guests" would now have to walk out of the facility and back in the front door to be signed into the pool. One day my wife approached the pool and the dockmaster was standing at the entrance coded gate. Although he knew us, he would not open the gate for her but made her walk all around the outside to re-enter through the outside!

Things got progressively worse and more acrimonious. Marina guests' bicycles were in the way, and parking a car was a constant problem as parking spaces suddenly sprouted signs saying no overnight parking. Clearly they were forcing us out. Now liveaboards are not allowed. Their loss. By season's end, we hated the place and vowed never to come back.

We were fortunate to be able to get a slip reservation for the next season at Sunset Bay in Stuart. There's no health club and no pool but it is a fabulous, welcoming immaculate facility. We are now here for our third winter and have already reserved for our fourth. We can walk into town, they have loaner bicycles, a good restaurant with nightly outdoor live music. There are outdoor movies, various social events and a great "know you by your first name" staff. They have a number of upgrades planned for next year as well.

So, a disappointing season led to 3 great seasons and more to come.

Howard

We're involved with all seven Loggerhead facilities. Stuart is fairly unique in that Loggerhead does not own the facility. As others have said, there are some serious legal issues between the marina and the condo right now. It's causing a lot of grief for everyone. We've had direct talks with the corporate marketing people - they all want the issues resolved as soon as possible and are working hard to make that happen.

Our boat was in Loggerhead when we bought it.

Sad to say, but I have found the marina experience gets better the further north you go.
THe attitude in much of FL seems to be that "we have so many boats, it's easy to replace you."

Here in Ireland, I finally had to fill out the paperwork, 4 months after i arrived.

A quick look at their site shows that the transient rates fluctuate with the 2 southern most marinas, Aventura and South Miami, being $3 per foot.

Ted

This thread points out something that is quite common on the coast and on many lakes. The developer sells property based on amenities, one of the biggest being the marina. It is a must. (Non water based developments it's often the golf course). The only problem is there isn't a marina, so now must get someone to operate one. But then who wants to run a marina just for a few condos so now they have to market to others too. The condo and property owners don't care about others. They don't want others. Yet they want rent from the marina operator. They've been led to believe often times that the marina will even be profitable for the association. That profit projection depends on high usage though and lots of fuel sales and yet they don't want a lot of "outsiders" using their marina.

The conflict is ongoing. You see the worst of "Condo Commandos". Reality is you can't have it both ways. Can't have a small exclusive, homeowner's only marina without it being very costly to those homeowners. Can't have a profitable revenue producing marina without going after business aggressively. There are other complexities too. For instance slip purchasers are promised their slips can be rented when not in use so don't worry about the maintenance fees, etc., but then renting those slips isn't easy and doesn't come without a lot of effort and the marina operator must be rewarded for that effort. Personally, if I was a marina operator, I would never operate one for a homeowner's association. However, Loggerhead is experienced at doing so and can do so well if allowed to. Just the association at Stuart has shown no inclination toward allowing them to do so.

It's hard to beat Sunset Marina, why not just go there? Plenty of mooring balls too.

I think Loggerhead has an interesting idea. Have a series of marinas spread out and allow boaters to buy into the group of marinas (with certain rules, of course). So you get a lower, longer-term rate but then have the advantage of being able to cruise around from facility to facility. It's great for the marina chain and pretty great for the boater.

So an experienced management company like Loggerhead will want to provide additional locations to give more options making the whole chain more valuable. It's a pretty unique plan and it can impact the way many of us cruise in a positive way.

Stuart is a good choice for a facility and more slips are needed there. I just know that the controversy isn't making things easy for anyone and will hopefully be settled soon.

BandB said:

Personally, if I was a marina operator, I would never operate one for a homeowner's association. However, Loggerhead is experienced at doing so and can do so well if allowed to. Just the association at Stuart has shown no inclination toward allowing them to do so.

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So, what is the likely outcome? Sounds like Loggerhead Stuart is long for this world.

Donsan said:

So, what is the likely outcome? Sounds like Loggerhead Stuart is long for this world.

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I don't know. I imagine continued battling. The problem for Loggerhead is they aren't able to deal with one definitive authority. Instead there are conflicting factions within the HOA.

Fortunately our home is in an HOA that lacks any militant members at this time. Apparently in 2001 (long before we were here) they had a war. Seems like they had a President who ran it like it was his own business. When he pushed the limits were when he chose to paint the bridges a different color. So, there was a revolt and a coup. lol

Mainly our HOA pays for security and maintains the very minimal common property and the contributions are all voluntary.

Now, back to Stuart. I suspect it's just going to continue much as is and Loggerhead will be forced to make the most of a bad situation. You could ask do the homeowners not know that there are plenty of competing marinas and theirs could be unsuccessful. Oh there's one faction that doesn't know or care. They'll like nothing better than for Loggerhead to fail and then just have a private community marina. The part they're oblivious to is the cost of maintaining that and the loss of current revenue.

Jeffrey S said:

I think Loggerhead has an interesting idea. Have a series of marinas spread out and allow boaters to buy into the group of marinas (with certain rules, of course). So you get a lower, longer-term rate but then have the advantage of being able to cruise around from facility to facility. It's great for the marina chain and pretty great for the boater..

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Sort of a marina timeshare?

Not a unique concept. Brewer Yacht Yards on the Long Island Sound allow that at their 32 marinas and counting.

BandB said:

I don't know. I imagine continued battling. The problem for Loggerhead is they aren't able to deal with one definitive authority. Instead there are conflicting factions within the HOA.

Fortunately our home is in an HOA that lacks any militant members at this time. Apparently in 2001 (long before we were here) they had a war. Seems like they had a President who ran it like it was his own business. When he pushed the limits were when he chose to paint the bridges a different color. So, there was a revolt and a coup. lol

Mainly our HOA pays for security and maintains the very minimal common property and the contributions are all voluntary.

Now, back to Stuart. I suspect it's just going to continue much as is and Loggerhead will be forced to make the most of a bad situation. You could ask do the homeowners not know that there are plenty of competing marinas and theirs could be unsuccessful. Oh there's one faction that doesn't know or care. They'll like nothing better than for Loggerhead to fail and then just have a private community marina. The part they're oblivious to is the cost of maintaining that and the loss of current revenue.

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i lived in loggerhead in palm beach gardens for 10 yrs and got kicked out they said no more livieaboards. they went down the drain for about 3 yrs and then , now changed back again now the place is full.it is right near the donald ross bridge in jupiter.good hurricain whole sat out three storms there no problem

capt jerry said:

i lived in loggerhead in palm beach gardens for 10 yrs and got kicked out they said no more livieaboards. they went down the drain for about 3 yrs and then , now changed back again now the place is full.it is right near the donald ross bridge in jupiter.good hurricain whole sat out three storms there no problem

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Some members of the HOA get carried away, but then realize it's costing them big time and possibly going to cost them much more.

hmason said:

Not a unique concept. Brewer Yacht Yards on the Long Island Sound allow that at their 32 marinas and counting.

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We're working with all the Brewer yards too - and there's one in Maryland now on the eastern shore in Oxford too!

This concept of paying longer-term slip prices to get into a marina "system" has some great benefits. I'd expect to see more of that for a bunch of reasons especially as we're entering a strong uptake in cruising and marinas are filling more.

The same concept can be applied to boatyard work and we've been pitching the idea to a couple of yard chains for a couple of years. I don't think all open types of transient slips/yard work should be allocated to this type of thing because there always needs to be pure open transient availability to keep fresh blood coming in. But as marinas fill up, this becomes especially attractive.

News flash, I was a bit tough on the initial post about Loggerhead Stuart. The guy that gave me the info was pissed about two things and he is new at this. Two $ a foot was OK but he was pissed about the $15 power, 30 amp for one night and the extensive "application" to give them money for 1 night. His actual bill was $76 for 1night not the $100 he told me initially.

I seldom do transient marinas. How do you guys, you experienced Marina hoppers feel about the case...32 ft boat.

Mule said:

News flash, I was a bit tough on the initial post about Loggerhead Stuart. The guy that gave me the info was pissed about two things and he is new at this. Two $ a foot was OK but he was pissed about the $15 power, 30 amp for one night and the extensive "application" to give them money for 1 night. His actual bill was $76 for 1night not the $100 he told me initially.

I seldom do transient marinas. How do you guys, you experienced Marina hoppers feel about the case...32 ft boat.

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As I posted initially, their published rate is $2 a foot. So, sounds like he actually got a discount. In an area like that, I find the $76 to be quite reasonable.

Rates are reflections of market. $2 would be considered the bargain of the century compared to a couple of areas I've been. On the other hand, I was amazed at how low the rates were in the PNW and Alaska. I've paid from $0.50 to $8/ft and electric and water rates all over the board.

Loggerhead Stuart is kind-of in a pickle with their recent changes. Stuart is a real cruising community that can rely on wintering cruisers filling slips. Through many sources they talk to one another. Loggerhead's approaching conflict was a topic in Annapolis, Baltimore and Newport long before cruisers headed south. There's plenty of transient business in Stuart but without those reliable bucks coming in from longer term rentals, planning and maintenance must be difficult.