Marina Dock Age

St. Johns Yacht Harbor, part of a dockominium project in Charleston, S.C., was taken over by a court-appointed receiver at the end of last year, after not making its loan payments, according to a Dec. 31 report in The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier.

The owners, Stono Marina Partners of Washington, D.C., owe about $25 million to National Bank of South Carolina, according to a lawsuit filed by the bank.

“The market got the best of us, as well as everybody else,” said Bob Pilcher, who oversaw the marina until the receiver took it over in December 2009. “Apparently, it got down to the point where there was no money left to continue pumping into the project.”

Boat owners had expressed interest in the St. Johns marina that would accommodate boats up to 35 feet long, particularly in its individual dock slip lifts that would hoist 16,000-pound vessels out of the water with the click of a garage-door like device. Prices for dock slips started at $125,000.

In September 2009, Stono Marina Partners had nearly two-dozen slips under contract, and the potential buyers, in some cases, walked away from their agreements, Pilcher said.

The marina continues to operate under new management but with uncertainty over what will happen with the owner’s original plans for the facility.

In 2006, IBG Partners formed Stono Marina Partners to buy neighboring Buzzard’s Roost Marina and Stono Marina for $22 million with plans to combine them into one 430-slip operation.