Owner of marinas in Norfolk's Ocean View buys control of a fourth

NORFOLK

The Atlanta-based owner of three Ocean View marinas has acquired a controlling interest in a fourth, Taylors Landing Marine Center.

Vinings Marine Group LLC bought 60 percent of Taylors Landing on April 30, minority owner Jeffrey Kramer said Friday.

Taylors Landing, located at 8166 Shore Drive, includes 220 floating boat slips and covered, "dry" storage for 385 boats.

Vinings paid about $9 million, which includes some assumed debt, for its share, Kramer said.

"We just believe in the boating industry in Norfolk and felt like it would be a great opportunity for us to have more slips and more services available for our boating customers," said Peter D. Anzo, Vinings' managing partner.

Vinings' other Ocean View-area holdings consist of Little Creek Marina at 4801 Pretty Lake Ave.; Bay Point Marina at 9500 30th Bay St.; and Willoughby Harbor Marina at 1525 Bayville St. Those three combined have 711 "wet slips." Little Creek Marina also has dry storage for 250 boats.

The company bought the Little Creek and Bay Point marinas in late 2004 for $8.1 million.

It acquired the Willoughby property in August 2005. Anzo declined to say how much Vinings paid, but city real estate records show the property sold for $3.65 million.

Vinings owns about a dozen more marinas along the East Coast and in such states as Kansas and Iowa.

It was formed in 2004 "to take advantage of what we saw as an opportunity to capture significant investment returns in the niche marketplace of marina ownership and management," according to its Web site.

The firm's largest concentration of holdings is in Norfolk, where it plans to open a regional office later this year, likely at Taylors Landing, Anzo said.

No major changes are planned at Taylors Landing, Anzo said.

However, he said later this year the firm wants to start constructing a 240-foot floating pier and fueling facility to accommodate yachts more than 80 feet long.

The pier, estimated to cost about $2 million, will be built off land Vinings owns between the Little Creek and Bay Point marinas.

"There's a definite need for larger slips in the Little Creek area," Anzo said.

Currently, Vinings has to dock such yachts at Little Creek Marina's fueling station, but that prevents other boats from gassing up, he said.

The pier project, which may feature a public waterfront walkway, still needs federal and state environmental permits, but has been approved by the city's Wetlands Board, Anzo said.

The inland portion of that roughly two-acre tract belongs to East Beach LLC, which plans to build condominiums there in a separate project, Anzo said. He said East Beach LLC is controlled by Marathon Development Group, which is behind Granby Tower, a stalled $180 million luxury condominium project in downtown Norfolk.

Buddy Gadams, Marathon's president, did not return a call Friday for comment on the status of the condominiums.

Gregory Richards, (757) 446-2599, gregory.richards@pilotonline.com