With more and more yachts on the water, many of which are well above 130ft, finding a safe harbor in the right location for your superyacht can be harder than it sounds. But investors are responding to the demand. In a growing trend for supersized destination marinas, the International Yacht Club d’Antibes recently invested a hefty €135m (approx. $146m) to upgrade Port Vauban’s iconic Quai Camille Rayon, better known as Billionaires’ Quay because of the gargantuan size of yachts it can accommodate. Offering far more than just a place to park your yacht, the new site boasts a brand new clubhouse, reception area for users of the helipad and upgraded crew facilities.
Barcelona’s Port Vell has also been transformed into an impressive 151-berth facility for yachts of up to 620ft, offering owners and crew convenient access to the city and all that the popular Catalan capital has to offer. The only other marina in Europe with larger berths than Barcelona is Porto Montenegro in the Bay of Kotor. Credited with starting the trend for destination marinas when it completed construction in 2014, Porto Montenegro has become a destination in itself, with a five-star hotel, luxury boutiques and even an International School on-site for berth owners to use.
Prices however can be high for such prime locations — a 280ft superyacht owner would need to pay in the region of €8.5m ($9.1m) for a 280-ft berth on a ten-year lease in Quai Camille Rayon. Many berths are then sublet by their owners at high prices when not in use, and given that most superyachts spend just 10% cruising, a berth to call home for these larger yachts (whether rented or owned) has become an essential, and competitive, part of ownership — something that is true not just for the owner, but also for the crew who prefer a home base where they can put down roots and buy property.
A number of future developments are also in the pipeline, designed to fill the gap for large superyacht berths, including a brand new and quite visionary project called Habacoa, located in the Bahamas. Scheduled to launch in 2027, Port Habacoa will be the largest marina in North America, offering a total of 150 berths spanning from 60ft (18m) to 720ft (220m). Lying 50 nautical miles from Nassau, and only 160 nautical miles from the yachting hub of Fort Lauderdale, Habacoa is certainly fulfilling a demand as statistics suggest that there are seven superyachts for every berth in the US.
“This is going to be the largest superyacht marina in the entire region – and there’s no dispute about that,” explains Ra’anan Ben-Zur, the developer and CEO behind Habacoa. “We have 134 superyacht berths, the entire East Coast of the United States has about 150. And we are going to have 14 berths of 300 ft and above. There’s maybe a handful, if that, of that size in the entire East Coast of the United States.”
Speaking over video call from his base in Miami, Ben-Zur explains that the main obstacle facing developing superyacht marinas in the US is the acute shortage of space: “In the US, generally, all oceanfront land is developed, right? [Habacoa] has 500 acres, there’s not 500 acres of oceanfront in the US just sitting there waiting for people to develop it. It’s been fully developed.”
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As the development of US marinas slows to an almost standstill, the size of the yachts that wish to park there is growing, and fast – which in turn drives up the demand for space to keep them. “There hasn’t been a new marina built here or renovated [other than] small additions for 25 years,” explains Ben-Zur. “25 years ago, the largest boats in the world may have been 20 meters, now it’s 200 meters. So, those big boats can’t make it into the old marinas. They can’t get in, it’s not big enough, it’s not deep enough. They don’t have the capacity and they don’t have the utilities.”
“Most marinas, in the US especially, I would call them glorified parking lots; they put their boat there and they go,” jibs Ben-Zur. “The owner is never on the boat there because, I mean, if you look at the big marinas here in Miami, some of which are the largest marinas in the US, there’s nothing there. There’s maybe a restaurant and a bar for the crew, but the owner doesn’t go there.”
In stark contrast, the highly anticipated Habacoa aims to become one of the most exclusive destination marinas in the world. More than just a safe harbor, Habacoa will feature an exclusive, members-only yacht club, and a casino and nightclub complex designed by renowned architect Zaha Hadid. The sustainable development also includes residences and a five-star hotel, restaurants, boutiques, a children’s water park and a wellness and fitness center.
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Not to mention the facilities specially built for the crew and captains, either. “It will have everything that you can think of,” describes Ben-Zur, before listing the on-site gym, showers, laundry facilities and pool, just to name a few, all of which will be free for the crew to use.
With this plethora of amenities to please the three required clientele types – “the boat, the captain and the crew, and, of course, the owner,” – Habacoa is set to be, as Ben-Zur puts it: “We’re going to be the Amazon in the superyachts community.”
