Started on the Miami River during the 1920’s and once the mainstay of the area, the Merrill Stevens Dry Dock was shut down in late 2009 and has lain dormant ever since. Now the facility has a new owner.
David Marlow, Chairman of Marlow Yachts of Palmetto, Florida, has ambitious plans to renovate the facility over the next two years having paid $6.6 million to acquire the 5.9 acres of property, equipment and the name from the Coconut Grove Bank, which took title in a foreclosure action completed in early 2011.
The price paid recently is roughly half of that paid by Hugh Westbrook when he bought the facility from the Merrill family in 2004.
Merrill Stevens began operations in 1885 in Jacksonville, opening the Miami location in 1923 to service commercial, pleasure and military boats. Superyachts owned by the likes of Malcolm Forbes and Ivana Trump, have in the past used the shipyard.
The facility can handle about 20 yachts over 30 metres each.