A large marina and a boat brokerage in Somers Point have formed a joint venture to position themselves in the rebounding boat market for spring.

Harbour Cove Marina, a 410-slip facility on Bay Avenue, and Jersey Marine Yacht Sales are creating a sales and service space that will be like an ongoing boat show.

Andy Eget, who has two decades in boat brokerage and owns Jersey Marine, said in the current market buyers and sellers are looking for a single facility that takes care of everything — showing, sea trialing, maintenance, improvements and insurance.

“Buyers might know the difference between Hatteras, Bertram and Viking, but a lot of the smaller boat brands they may not know as well,” said Eget, of the Seaville section of  Upper Township. “Here, they’ll be able to see a range of boats at one location instead of having to drive around the country.”

Jersey Marine’s inventory averages 125 to 150 listings, he said, with boats ranging from 15 to 70 feet.

Todd Scarborough, a principal in Harbour Cove Marina and its owner, Scarborough Properties, said the joint venture reflects where the industry is headed and the proximity of the neighboring businesses.

“When somebody buys a boat now, it’s more than a simple transaction. Yacht brokers manage the whole experience,” said Scarborough, of Ocean City. “If we can splash the boat, show them how it runs through the inlet and all, that’s a big advantage.”

Just when it looked safe to get that boat back in the water, skyrocketing fuel prices may again take a bite out of summer plans to turn landlubbers into mariners.

After a four-year slump in the recreational boating industry, with record numbers of liquidations and bank repossessions, everyone – marina owners, boat builders, marine insurers – had been predicting that this summer would be a winner. Until recently.

“It was looking really good . . . and then it all just stopped,” said Roseanne Ciano, a senior account manager at the Boat Safe Insurance Agency in Brick Township, N.J., which specializes in watercraft protection.

The spike in gasoline prices due to unrest in the Middle East has vacation industry watchers wondering about the effect on the summer season at the Jersey Shore.

Some say travelers will opt for vacations close to home and mob the Shore; others predict that even if they come, they might not spend much money.

New Jersey’s marine industry employs about 18,000 people, and sales of boats generated about $225 million in the state in 2009, the latest year for which statistics are available – a 24 percent decline from the previous year, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association. About 130 marinas operate in Atlantic, Cape May, and Ocean Counties.

Early this year, while heavy snows were still blanketing the country, boat owners and would-be buyers were busy: Orders for vessels at boat shows from Boston to Miami were up 20 percent to 30 percent over last year, marina owners up and down the Jersey Shore were being shaken out of their winter hibernations early to book slips for eager boaters, and phones were ringing off the hook at insurance offices with boaters wanting to renew or start policies.

But as gas has inched toward $4 a gallon, the calls have slowed, Ciano and others said.

“People were feeling a little sick and tired of not putting their boat in the water for a few years and had decided to economize in other ways and were going to go for it,” Ciano said. “Now they seem to be putting on the brakes again.”

Todd Scarborough, a principal owner in Harbour Cove Marina in Somers Point, N.J. – one of the largest boat storage and launching facilities in the state – said bookings for his property’s 410 slips were up about 10 percent from a year ago.

That motivated him to join a neighboring boat brokerage, Jersey Marine, and offer a soup-to-nuts approach, from purchase to docking, in one facility this season, Scarborough said.

An op-ed piece by Sean Scarborough, president of Scarborough Properties

Creation of a charter school in New Jersey is no easy task, evident from the stories told over the years by founders of the 73 charter schools now open in the state, as well as other organizers whose proposed schools that never got off the ground.

Many would be surprised to know the paramount challenge in building a successful charter school in New Jersey has nothing to do with the curriculum, student and faculty recruitment, or lingering distrust from the local public schools.

The problem has been the financing and construction of a long-term facility that can accommodate a 21st century curriculum. Land costs in New Jersey are astronomical, while construction prices with a reputable builder often are daunting for even the most aggressive fundraiser.
New Jersey needs to create a funding mechanism that levels the playing field between traditional public schools and charter schools, which have been coping with an inherent disadvantage since they first opened in the state in 1997.

If a local board of education is interested in building or expanding a school, the process is simple: There is a special election for voters to approve the issuing of a tax-exempt bond. Taxpayers then pay back the bond over a number of years, and the funds are incorporated in the overall property tax bill; most taxpayers don’t even know or recall what the long-term debt is for.

Creation of a charter school in New Jersey is no easy task, as is evident from the stories told over the years by founders of the 73 charter schools now open in the state, as well as the many other organizers whose proposed schools never got off the ground.

Many would be surprised to know the paramount challenge in building a successful charter school in New Jersey has nothing to do with the curriculum, student and faculty recruitment or lingering distrust from the local public schools.

The problem has been the financing and construction of long-term facilities that can accommodate a 21st century curriculum. Land costs in New Jersey are astronomical, while construction prices with a reputable builder are often daunting for even the most aggressive charter-school fundraiser.

New Jersey needs to create a funding mechanism that levels the playing field between traditional public schools and charter schools, which have been coping with an inherent disadvantage since they first opened in the state in 1997.

If a local school board is interested in building or expanding a public school, the process is simple. There is an election for voters to approve the issuance of a tax-exempt bond.
Taxpayers then pay back the bond over a number of years. The funds are incorporated in the overall property tax bill; most taxpayers don’t even know or recall what the long-term debt is for.

Charter schools, now serving 26,000 students in New Jersey, are not allowed to issue tax-exempt bonds. There are no provisions in state law for charter schools to get funding for school construction. Most operators have no choice but to pull critical dollars from their operating budgets to fund facility costs, hampering the efforts to fulfill the unique purpose of the charter school.

Creation of a charter school in New Jersey is no easy task, evident from the stories told over the years by founders of the 73 charter schools now open in the state, as well as the many other organizers whose proposed schools never got off the ground.

Many would be surprised to know the paramount challenge in building a successful charter school in New Jersey has nothing to do with the curriculum, student and faculty recruitment or lingering distrust from the local public schools.

The problem has been the financing and construction of a long-term facility that can accommodate a 21st century curriculum. Land costs in New Jersey are astronomical, while construction prices with a reputable builder are often daunting for even the most aggressive charter school fundraiser.

New Jersey needs to create a funding mechanism that levels the playing field between traditional public schools and charter schools, which have been coping with an inherent disadvantage since they first opened in the state in 1997.

If a local Board of Education is interested in building or expanding a school, the process is simple. There is a special election for voters to approve the issuing of a tax-exempt bond. Taxpayers then pay back the bond over a number of years. The funds are incorporated in the overall property tax bill; most taxpayers don’t even know or recall what the long-term debt is for.

Charter schools, now serving 26,000 students in New Jersey, are not allowed to issue tax-exempt bonds. There are no provisions in state law for charter schools to get funding for school construction. Most operators have no choice but to pull critical dollars from the operating budget to fund facility costs, hampering the efforts to fulfill the unique purpose of the charter school.

The addition with four floors and 11 operating rooms that Scarborough Properties is building for Shore Memorial Hospital in Somers Point is impressive, but big projects are the norm for the commercial developer.

Scarborough, with offices in Somers Point and Gibbsboro, Camden County, built the ShopRite in Upper Township and the BJ’s Wholesale Club in Manahawkin … at the same time.

What’s unusual about the multiyear hospital project is the Scarborough contract to build it, which guarantees the final cost — eliminating the possibility of cost overruns.

“The new business model we’ve utilized is a single-source model for institutions,” said Sean Scarborough, 45, of Ocean City, one of three brothers who own the company. “We attack the project as if we’re going to own it, providing a guaranteed maximum price and budgets for the overall project.”

If the client changes the project or increases the scope of it, the cost might be adjusted to reflect that, he said. But changing market conditions or materials prices won’t lead to increases.

“If the price goes up on concrete or rebar, there’s no provision to revise the cost,” Scarborough said. “That’s no different than what we do for ourselves, and we’ve done it for 65 years.”

SOMERS POINT- Construction for Shore Memorial Hospital’s expansion project has been underway for just about 2 years.

And now that developers are in the home stretch, they invited our cameras to take an inside look at the progress and explain how they’ve given the hospital an offer they couldn’t refuse.

Construction here for Shore Memorial Hospital’s largest expansion project ever is just about 80 percent complete, having kicked off in December of 2008. “This is an addition to the hospital, but it will redefine what the hospital is, it’s a new front door, it’s the bridge, it’s a campus,” said Sean Scarborough of Scarborough Properties.

The expansion includes this four story, 135,000 square foot surgical pavilion, a medical office building and a new main entrance that will all be silver LEED certified upon completion. “It’s going to maintain its open feel because this is the main circulation area of the building, front of the house, and it’s meant to be open and really sort of more like a hotel feel when you step in the front door than a hospital.”