Courtesy Yankee Marine Group
By Christine Graf
Yankee Marine Group was awarded a 10-year $250,000 tax incentive package for the company’s plan to build a $3 million boat storage facility in Lake George.
The Warren and Washington IDA approved the financial assistance package in May.
The storage facility will be built on a 9-acre parcel of land located at 2217 Route 9N. The property is south of his marina and retail center on Lake Shore Drive in Diamond Point.
Yankee Marine Group has already received approval from the town of Lake George Planning Board and the Adirondack Park Agency to construct up to three 11,000-square-foot buildings on the property. Each building will have storage capacity for 80 boats.
A second generation family owned business, Yankee Marine Group is owned by Andrew Brodie and his wife, Christina. Brodie worked as an engineer at GE Global Research before purchasing the business from his parents.
“My parents started the business in 1972 when they bought the marina on Lake George in Diamond Point,” he said. “My brother and I bought them out and split the business up within the last two years.”
His brother, Jon Brodie, owns and operates Brodie’s Lakeside Marina as well as Little Harbor Boat Co. rentals on Lake George. Andrew Brodie and his wife operate Yankee Marina and Boat Rentals as well as Yankee Boating Center
“At the marina, we do boat rentals as well as a fuel dock and a ship store. At our retail facility, which is at 3578 Lakeshore Drive, we do boat sales and service. We also have parts and accessory sales and a watersports pro shop,” he said.
According to Brodie, the company has also stored hundreds of boats for its customers in space that they have leased for dozens of years. Finding property to build their own storage facility proved difficult.
“It was challenging to find a flat, large area in proximity to our marina and dealership that was zoned for storage. We finally found some good property in 2018, and prior to that, I had been searching for property for five or six years. It’s been a long time coming,” he said.
After purchasing the land, it took Brodie more than 2.5 years to obtain permitting from the town of Lake George and the Adirondack Park Agency.
“It was a very long, expensive, laborious process,” he said. “I started clearing the land in November of last year.”
Munter Enterprises of Middle Grove is the contractor for the project which has a price tag of approximately $3 million.
Rising interest rates and skyrocketing material costs resulted in a significantly higher costs than Brodie had originally anticipated, he said. It was for that reason that he sought tax incentives from the IDA.
“We were approved for three buildings, and I’m looking to get two built this year,” said Brodie. “The buildings will provide boat storage for our customers’ boats as well as for our own rental fleet in the winter and stock overflow from our boat dealership. We’ve brought on some new lines, and we’ve been running out of space. We’re busting at the seams.”
Upon completion of the indoor boat storage expansion, Yankee Marine Group’s staff will be able to service boats indoors during the winter months. As a result, Brodie anticipates increasing his staff of year-round employees. The company currently has a staff that includes 12 year-round employees and approximately 30 seasonal workers.
“Not only will we be able to grow our service department, but with the extra space, it will allow us to take more retail inventory and sell more boats,” he said. “It will give us the space to grow all of our businesses.”
According to Brodie, COVID related supply chain that plagued the boating industry are no longer an issue. There is plenty of inventory available, and although sales have slowed, they remain strong.
“It’s hard for anyone to predict what things are going to look like in six months, but so far into the year, we still see a really good demand for new and used boats,” he said.