Belfast’s planning board voted Wednesday to recommend an ownership amendment for a special zoning agreement that governs a prominent local shipyard, moving it ahead for the City Council to consider next month.
If the council approves, it will help pave the way for Safe Harbor Marinas, owned by private equity giant Blackstone, to buy the roughly 6-acre Front Street Shipyard when an existing purchase and sale agreement closes at the end of the year.
The amendment would change the ownership, not the other content of the contract rezoning agreement. The Planning Board’s review was focused on Safe Harbor’s financial and technical abilities to uphold that agreement.
The zoning agreement is an extensive document that has governed the Front Street site’s development and use. It’s possibly the most complicated document of its kind in Belfast, according to the city code and planning director, Bub Fournier, and has been amended eight times since it was established in 2011.
The centrally located shipyard on the site of a former seafood plant has been a hallmark of the city’s waterfront redevelopment through the last 15 years.
Safe Harbor is the largest marina and superyacht service business in the country, with 149 locations in the U.S. and abroad, including several in Maine. Earlier this year, it was purchased by the infrastructure arm of private equity giant Blackstone.
The new potential owners don’t plan changes to the Belfast shipyard’s operations, Greg Glavin, regional vice president for Safe Harbor, told the Planning Board Wednesday. Employees will keep their jobs; president and general manager JB Turner is expected to continue running it for the next three and a half years.
“We’re buying Front Street totally to operate it as a boatyard and a shipyard,” Glavin said. “We have no plans of any presence of Safe Harbor, other than myself.”
In a letter to the Planning Board and council, Turner wrote the news is a “bittersweet milestone” for him and his partners, but the time is right for the transition. He said he will work full-time as an employee to prepare the new owners for his eventual retirement.
In looking for a buyer, the shipyard sought a candidate with the finances and technological experience to make the transition seamless, he wrote.
Safe Harbor plans to invest about $5 million in the first two years, according to Glavin. In response to a question from board member Gianne Conard, he said the money could be spent on some improvements to buildings and equipment, but he and Turner both have ideas.
“We plan to keep it the way it is and try to make small improvements,” Glavin said.
Conard also said she’s heard concerns about the shipyard no longer being locally owned.
Glavin said he’s heard those concerns often, but Safe Harbor wants to be part of the community. He pointed to its marina in Rockland as an example, noting a public harbor walkway there has remained open to the public under Safe Harbor ownership.
Belfast’s Harbor Walk is also expected to remain open to the public because of existing easements and rights-of-way.
There were no public comments at the Wednesday meeting’s hearing and minimal discussion between board members before a vote recommending the City Council accept the amendment.
The council is scheduled to consider a first reading of the amendment at its Dec. 2 meeting, with another public hearing at its second reading, according to agenda materials. Current city postings don’t include a date for that reading.