The city of Fort Lauderdale's charming and historic nautical neighborhood, Shady Banks, is now home to one of the City's newest and state-of-the-art marinas.
Safe Harbor Lauderdale Marine Center (SH LMC) celebrated the opening of its North Marina on Wednesday, October 19 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. At the event, SH LMC made a $50,000 donation for traffic calming improvements around Shady Banks. The North Marina is the conversion of a longtime derelict property that took five years to revive.
"The marine industry was born right on this property. These are people who have been here for decades," said SH LMC Director of Facilities Frank Gernert. "They had to use a lot of patience because the construction of the marina took several years. They realized that the project was going to improve a derelict marina property that had not served its useful time," he said.
Boaters now have access to 35 new superyacht berths on five acres of the New River across from the primary SH LMC 65-acre facility where boats can be worked on. The marine center is considered a Clean Marina Superyacht facility meeting state requirements for the designation.
The revival reverberates the major impact of the marine industry in Fort Lauderdale. The industry creates more than 121,000 jobs and earns nearly 10 billion dollars in Broward according to the Marine Industries Association of South Florida.