Meridian Marina Rebuilds Its Reputation as a Boater Destination

Austin Cameron, founder of VIP Marinas, has been in the marina business since 2009, when he purchased his first facility on a lake in Texas. As an avid slalom water skier, Austin knew lake boating and what those customers wanted from a marina. As VIP Marinas expanded, Austin and his wife, Jenny, bought a boat and spent years cruising around Florida to understand the coastal marina customer.

Now, with 14 properties in their portfolio, they are well-versed in both the inland and coastal marina business but still face new challenges and learning experiences. Meridian Marina, located on the St. Lucie River in Palm City, Florida, was their latest test.

The Camerons purchased Meridian Marina in 2021, knowing the site would need a complete transformation. The property had obvious structural decay and a large amount of deferred maintenance, along with an open environmental case with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

As a result, occupancy was low, and the site’s reputation had suffered.
The needed overhaul and expansion have kept the Meridian team busy over the past five years, but the efforts have paid off, so much so that they won the Marina Dock Age 2025 Marina of the Year Building and Growing award.

A Problem With Potential
Austin was first introduced to Meridian many years ago when a friend of a friend had the property under contract and planned to turn part of the property into a government building. “I flew in, looked around and made a deal that they’d flip the marina portion over to us to keep it as a marina. That deal fell apart,” he said. “Then later, COVID hit and we’re coming through the area on our boat. I saw Meridian and decided to stop and meet with the owner. It was under contract again. But six months later, he called and said we had just days to make an offer.”

The property had been through several failed deals as potential buyers learned more about the many problems and were scared away. With the owner in bankruptcy, the bank arranged for an auction. Austin scrambled to meet with his bank, create an offer and put a pause on the auction.

“Three days before the auction, the court allowed us to contract on the property with earnest money, which was enough to stop the auction. The bank went above and beyond to lend us the money we needed, but it required that we get a new roof and siding on the barn immediately before hurricane season so it could be insured,” Austin said. “The roof was so rusty, rain came through and covered the stored boats in rust.”

VIP believed the opportunity at Meridian outweighed the risk. The marina sits in the middle of a rapidly growing community with new home construction booming. As a prime boating location, the area attracts many boaters in need of a place to store and service their vessels. The area was so attractive that Austin and Jenny decided to move their family from Texas to a home three miles from the marina. “We first bought the marina as an investment, but now it’s our lifestyle and forever asset,” Austin said.

Repairs and Renovation
With the roof replaced, the next big hurdle was working with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to resolve the issue of a contaminated pit between the storage barn and the launch area. An underground fuel tank was removed in the early 2000s by the former owner but was never properly remediated. A 35-by-50-foot open pit remained, posing an environmental hazard as well as a safety issue. Forklifts had been traveling an indirect route around the pit while dodging large potholes in the launch area to reach the water.

VIP Marinas worked closely with the department and environmental engineers to remove the contaminated material and add certified clean fill, implement extensive soil and groundwater testing and finally pour an 18-inch reinforced concrete pad over the entire area. With the hazard removed, the marina restored full use of the launch area, streamlining operations so customers could enjoy faster launch and retrieval.

The next problem they faced was that while the rusted roof had been replaced, boats in storage were still coming out covered in dirt. That dirt turned out to be dust from termites living in the old bunker boards. All bunker boards throughout the entire barn had to be replaced.

“Next was a new seawall, but it interrupted where the fuel line was, so we ended up having to replace the full fuel line,” Austin said. “Then we needed a new fuel tank. It was $100,000 every time we turned around. We blew the budget with unforeseen issues and post-COVID cost increases, but fortunately, the market has turned out to be at least four times as strong as we thought it would be.”

Expansion Capabilities
With much of the deferred maintenance complete, the next step was to increase storage capabilities to accommodate the growing number of boaters. The team upgraded the existing storage barn and added outside racks and a Category 5-rated drystack. The reinforced walls, flood-resistant grading and elevated utilities have been stress-tested under storm conditions with minimal damage. The new space holds 162 boats, while the old barn can handle up to 260 boats. There is room for another 162 boats outside. Mack David Buildings worked on the new barn, and Roof and Rack installed the racks for the outside storage. In addition to storing their customers’ boats, VIP sells hurricane storage policies to in-water marinas and local boaters who typically store their boats at home. When a hurricane is announced, Meridian Marina staff haul the boats and store them down the alleyways of the barn as part of the boaters’ hurricane storage plans with their insurance companies.

Jenny said they worked collaboratively with local, county, state and federal agencies, submitting plans, environmental studies, mitigation proposals and monitoring reports until all phases of work were completed. “We engaged expert marine engineers, environmental consultants and permit liaisons to ensure compliance and reduce the risk of rejection,” she said. The final permit approval came in August 2025.

A Staff That Saw Promise
Along with the essential renovations, it was important for VIP to retain the staff who were there when they arrived. Husband-and-wife duo Rick and Jennifer Jacobs serve as general manager and operations manager, respectively. Their son, Ryan, is the barn manager, and their dau

ghter, Kalyn, is a dockhand and handles marketing for the marina.

“The marina had a fantastic team who had been invested for so long,” Jenny said. “They knew the property was for sale and hoped for the best.”
The Jacobs said the new barn was the most exciting change for them, noting that dockhands no longer spend 45 minutes cleaning every boat before launching it. Rick said the extra space and necessary equipment, such as wheel stops for the forklifts, have improved service at the marina. “The lack of wheel stops meant there was nothing stopping forklifts from rolling right into the water except for expert handling,” he said.

“Jenny and Cameron listen to the staff and take our opinions into consideration,” Jennifer said. “We appreciate their dedication to the marina.”

Meridian Marina now offers boat sales through VIP Boats & Yachts and service through a third-party tenant. The team is adding a restaurant and creating wet slips in its newly dredged basin for both the restaurant and a busy transient market coming from boaters traveling the Okeechobee Waterway. Austin said they may bring service in-house eventually, but they have enough work to do for now and are currently focusing on customer service and filling up the new barn when it opens in May of 2026.

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