PGA Marina torn down for revamp

$80M overhaul will be complete in Dec. 2026

Maya Washburn, Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY NETWORK

PALM BEACH GARDENS — PGA Marina, which has for more than 50 years been a landmark along PGA Boulevard and the Intracoastal Waterway, has been demolished as part of an $80 million overhaul.

The marina will be replaced with a taller, modern one with more space for boat storage and 57 more dry slips for boats. It plans to reopen in December 2026 and will be the flagship location of Port 32 Marinas, a South Carolina company that also owns nine other marinas, said Austin Schell, Port 32’s chief executive officer.

The PGA Marina also has a new name, “Port 32 Palm Beach Gardens.”

Crews tore down the large metal barn on the site in March. They will complete foundation, utility and seawall work from now until August, when they will start building a steel structure to hold dry marina slips, Schell said.

“The size of boats has grown so much,” Schell said. “There is a shortage of slips, especially for larger vessels. This brand is being built for the boat of the next 30 years, not the last 30 years, which means larger and wider boats.”

The marina will house boats up to 60 feet long in a building that can withstand Category 5 storm winds, he said. It will reopen with a total of 471 boat slips, including 451 dry slips and 20 wet slips. The wet slips are already open at the marina, where boats are docked now. They will remain open through construction, but the rest of the marina is closed.

Crews will soon build three blue-and-white buildings at the site. Two of them, geared for storage, will stand 83 feet high, 37 feet taller than the building that was on the property.

The two 83-foot-tall buildings will be used for boat storage, showrooms and office space. A third, smaller 5,000-square-foot building will be a ship’s store with fueling stations for boats that can dock directly at the building.

The project also changes the current path that takes customers at the River House, a restaurant that shares the property with the marina, past the working industrial site on their way to the restaurant. In its place, a road network will go around the building to the west and straight to the River House.

PGA Marina members can order snacks, fuel and ice for their boats on app

Some residents questioned the height of the new complex, saying it would obstruct Intracoastal views from their residences and tower over nearby buildings. Others praised it, saying it will clean up the site marked by rusted metal and potholes. Mayor Marcie Tinsley said the Palm Beach Gardens area needs more boat storage.

The marina will likely have the largest staff of all of Port 32’s marinas, Schell said. Members will also have access to an app they can use to preorder cooler service, snacks, fuel and ice, so their boat is ready to go before they get to it.

“We really want to provide our clientele with a turnkey, friction-free way to enjoy time with their friends and family,” Schell said.

He said members can eat, drink, work and play at the marina. Its proximity to the River House gives them access to an outdoor tiki bar and the marina will have conference rooms for boaters to host meetings or take phone calls before getting out on the water.

The city’s approval process for the marina renovations took nearly seven years, according to Steve Mathison, the attorney representing the developer.

City officials wanted the marina to adhere to their vision for the PGA Boulevard corridor, he said.

“It was definitely a labor of love and an attempt to create the finest marina on the east coast of Florida,”

Mathison said.

“The city of Palm Beach Gardens is very stringent, and I think rightfully so.”