The Capital Campaign · Reg D 506(c) · Accredited Investors
The Gold Key Boathouse Capital Campaign is an opportunity to participate in the ownership and development of Sarasota's next-generation indoor boat storage facility — a ~350-space, fully enclosed, hurricane-resistant boathouse, built alongside the sponsor who invented the concept.
Inquiry only. Offering materials are released after a brief conversation and review.
The Market
The Sarasota / Manatee region has 50,500 registered boats and roughly 7,500 commercial wet slips and dry racks combined. Demand compounds every year with population growth, affluent households, and snowbird season, while land scarcity and permitting make new supply nearly impossible to build. That is the gap Gold Key fills.
The rest depend on alternatives — and purpose-built dry storage is the most defensible of them.
The shortage is structural, not cyclical — constrained on both the demand and the supply side. On the demand side, homeowners' associations and deed restrictions throughout Sarasota and Manatee counties broadly prohibit boat storage in driveways, yards, and visible residential areas, forcing tens of thousands of trailer-boat owners into the commercial storage market whether they like it or not. On the supply side, there is effectively no developable land remaining in downtown Sarasota or along the waterfront for new storage capacity, and what land exists commands residential and mixed-use pricing that storage economics cannot support. Existing marinas and dry-stack facilities operate at full occupancy with multi-year waitlists.
Gold Key Boathouse sits in the narrow zone where the economics still work: inland enough to be buildable and permittable, close enough to be the nearest practical alternative to the region's public ramps. Demand is compelled by regulation; competing supply is blocked by land scarcity. That combination is what makes the asset hard to replicate.
Demand vs. capacity
| Metric | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Regional registered boats (FWC 2025) | 50,500 |
| Boats added in a single year (2024–2025) | ~2,500 |
| Commercial wet slips | ~4,000 |
| Commercial dry racks | ~3,500 |
| Boats with no commercial space | 43,000 |
Slip and rack scarcity
| Metric | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Registered boats per commercial space | ~7 : 1 |
| Trailer boats as a share of the fleet | ~60–70% |
| Typical marina waitlist | 12–36 months |
| Gold Key capacity as a share of one year's growth | ~14% |
Registration counts are from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (2025). Slip, rack and waitlist figures are drawn from an independent third-party study conducted by Wert-Berater, Inc. in June 2026, the same national SBA feasibility firm that rated the project Feasible / Favorable. Full sourcing is provided in the offering materials.
The Sponsor
Investors don't fund markets; they fund operators. Managing Partner Brian “BMac” McCarthy, Rear Admiral, SC, USN (Ret.), invented the trailer-on-rack inland boathouse concept more than twenty years ago and operated two California facilities storing roughly 500 boats under the Gold Key Boathouse brand. As a principal, he has completed over $500 million in commercial real estate development.
Sarasota is the flagship of a planned Florida rollout — built by the operator who wrote the playbook.
Brian “BMac” McCarthy
Managing Partner · Rear Admiral, SC, USN (Ret.)
The Asset
| Capacity | ~350 enclosed spaces |
|---|---|
| Maximum vessel | All-size vessels and RVs up to 50 ft in length (length-premium pricing) |
| Structure | Indoor, hurricane-resistant building |
| Storage format | Boat and trailer, stored together |
| RV allocation | Up to 25% of capacity (Gold Key Garage) |
| Opening | 2027 |
Storing boat and trailer together simplifies operations, speeds retrieval, and supports premium pricing — and the enclosed, hurricane-resistant structure is what lets Gold Key charge for protection no outdoor lot can match. Full unit economics, pro forma, and return assumptions are in the offering materials, released after qualification.
Indoor boat + trailer storage starts at approximately $540/month (boats to 20 ft), with most boats $690–$960/month depending on length. Larger boats approaching 50 ft are quoted individually. Minimum 7-month commitment. All rates include indoor hurricane protection, wash & engine flush, app scheduling, 24/7 access to a staged rig, and the boat's trailer at no additional charge.
Trailer-only rack storage, without a boat, is a separate product at $100/month across 60 dedicated spaces.
Independent Validation
In a matter of weeks, a national SBA feasibility firm and an SBA Preferred Lender each completed their own independent review — moving Gold Key from a promising plan to an externally validated project.
Wert-Berater, Inc., a national SBA feasibility firm, completed an independent study and assigned Gold Key its highest rating. It confirmed the project's major assumptions and supports the bank's appraisal.
First Bank of the Lake, a nationwide SBA Preferred Lender, issued a term sheet to finance the project through a combined SBA 504 construction-to-permanent loan and a 7(a) facility — a lender committing to underwrite after its own review.
A feasibility study and a term sheet are preliminary and non-binding. Financing remains subject to underwriting, a bank-ordered appraisal, and definitive loan documentation — nothing here is a commitment to lend or a guarantee of future results.
Where This Asset Class Is Headed
In 2025, Blackstone Infrastructure acquired Safe Harbor Marinas — the largest marina and boat-storage operator in the U.S. — for $5.65 billion. In August 2026, Safe Harbor followed with a $1.5 billion agreement to acquire MarineMax at a 96% premium. The world's largest alternative asset manager is buying exactly this kind of asset. Gold Key is being built to institutional standards from day one.
Referenced transactions are cited for market context only and imply no affiliation, endorsement, or predicted outcome.
The Investment
Forty ownership units. One flagship asset. Structure, projected returns, and the complete pro forma are contained in the offering materials, provided to accredited investors after qualification.
For accredited individuals seeking exposure to a scarce real-asset opportunity in a growing coastal market. Start with an inquiry; we'll call to discuss fit and next steps.
For funds, family offices, and institutional allocators evaluating differentiated storage assets. Submit an inquiry and our team will arrange a direct conversation.
We do not post the PPM publicly. This protects the offering, our investors, and the process.
Only 40 units. Opening 2027. Start with a short inquiry — we'll take it from there.
This page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security. Any such offer will be made only through definitive offering documents (including a Private Placement Memorandum) provided to qualified prospective investors following review by Gold Key Boathouse. Investments of this type involve risk, including possible loss of principal, and are suitable only for investors who meet applicable eligibility requirements. Consult your own legal, tax, and financial advisors.
Gold Key Boathouse is developed, operated, and managed by Starboard Tack Commercial Real Estate, the asset, project, and property manager of the Gold Key Boathouse platform properties.
