Located just 15 miles from the world famous Beverly Hills in California’s luxurious Redondo Beach neighborhood, the Portofino Hotel and Yacht Club underwent a complete renovation in 2007. Everything from the hotel’s guest rooms to the docks at the on site yacht club were completely refurbished and updated. “We offer premium services and amenities and have a prime location along California’s southern coast… our facilities needed to be brought up-to-date,” said Glenn Bishop, General Manager of Portofino Hotel and Yacht Club

Bellingham Marine was hired as the design-build contractor for the waterside portion of the rebuild project. Bellingham assisted in obtaining local conceptual approvals, as well as approvals from regulatory agencies such as the California Coastal Commission. After the permits were received, Bellingham demolished the existing marina and designed, manufactured, and constructed the new marina – including docks, gangways, security gates, piles, utilities and dock accessories such as dinghy racks and in-slip signage. A new fire suppression system, fresh water hose bibs, upgraded power, cable TV and telephone hookups were installed at each slip.

After the rebuild, the total number of slips in the marina decreased. The decrease was attributed to new disability access (ADA) codes, wider slip requirements and an increased demand in the market for larger slips. The vessels being built today are larger and are equipped with more modern conveniences than in the past. This trend is causing marinas across the country to shift their slip mix toward larger lengths and to increase their power demands. The completed Portofino Yacht Club has 183 slips ranging from 25’ to 100’.

Everything was well planned from the beginning. “We notified marina tenants 4 to 5 months in advance about the upcoming renovation,” said Bishop; “we made it a priority to communicate openly with our tenants and to keep them as our number one focus.” New homes were found for displaced boats before construction was started. The rebuild was phased to ensure as little disruption as possible to the tenants. Bellingham Marine developed a phasing schedule that enabled all boats to remain in the marina during the rebuild and required a single boat to move no more than twice over the course of the project. “Bellingham’s planning and execution of the rebuild was right on target. The old docks were demolished and the new ones installed section by section with minimal impact on our tenants. Our customers are happy and our staff is proud to be a part of the newly renovated facility” said Bishop.

As the world’s leading marina design/build construction company, Bellingham Marine produces Unifloat saltwater systems, Unideck freshwater systems and Unistack dry storage systems for marinas worldwide.

Bellingham Marine, P.O. Box 8, Bellingham, WA 98227; ph. 360-676-2800, fax. 360-734-2417, email. bmi@bellingham-marine.com

Unifloat, Unideck and Unistack are registered trademarks of Bellingham Marine.