Starboard Tack · Developer & Manager
Starboard Tack Commercial Real Estate is the operator-led firm behind Gold Key Boathouse. We develop, operate, and manage specialized real estate platforms where operational expertise and long-term stewardship matter most. Gold Key Boathouse is one of our flagship platforms.
Who We Are
Starboard Tack Commercial Real Estate is an operator-led, owner-aligned firm providing asset management, project management, and property management. We believe commercial real estate performs best when managed by professionals who have operated assets through full market cycles, understand capital responsibility, and execute with discipline.
Our role isn't to chase transactions — it's to protect, improve, and grow real assets over time. Independent by design: Starboard Tack does not broker acquisitions or dispositions, which keeps us free from transaction-based incentives and fully aligned with ownership.
Track Record
For more than four decades, Starboard Tack's senior management has delivered over $500 million in commercial, marina, multifamily, hospitality, and specialty real estate projects across the United States — with strong concentrations in Michigan, California, and Florida. Our work spans the full real estate lifecycle: land acquisition, due diligence, design, permitting, construction, redevelopment, property management, and asset management.
California's first multi-story climate-controlled self-storage facility
The nation's first inland dry-stack boathouse for trailered boats — the model Gold Key Boathouse is built on
America's first ground-up indoor premium pickleball club
Built & open
Ground-up development of a climate-controlled indoor court facility with a members’ lounge, café, pro shop and outdoor social courts — delivered from land acquisition through permitting, construction and opening. The same playbook Gold Key Boathouse is being built on: a specialised recreational asset, purpose-built for a market that had nowhere else to go.
Portfolio snapshot. Athletic and recreational facilities, marina and storage assets, multifamily communities, hospitality, retail, office, and industrial projects across the U.S. Relevant marina & storage projects include Gold Key Boathouse (Sarasota, under development), Bird Key Yacht Club (Sarasota), Watermark Marina (Islamorada), Gold Key Storage (El Dorado Hills, CA), and Missouri Flat Self Storage (Placerville, CA).
Leadership
Rear Admiral
Founder & CEO · Starboard Tack Commercial Real Estate
Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret.) · 30 years of service
Brian McCarthy is a seasoned real estate developer and operator with a track record spanning $500+ million in executed commercial real estate projects across multiple asset classes — blending engineering discipline, operational leadership, and entrepreneurial execution, including the development of multiple industry-first platforms.
The principles of accountability, planning, and execution — forged over a thirty-year naval career — are exactly how Starboard Tack runs an asset: disciplined strategy, rigorous execution, and a long-term horizon.
What We Do
Owner-aligned oversight across the full investment lifecycle — aligning strategy, capital, and operations to ownership objectives, with a focus on performance, risk, and long-term value.
Representing ownership through development, redevelopment, and capital projects — protecting budget, schedule, and quality from vision to completion.
Hands-on commercial property management run by operators, not administrators — built on operational rigor, transparency, and tenant performance.
For Landowners & Development Partners
We're actively interested in land and development partnerships across the region. If you own or control a site that could suit a storage facility, or you're a capital partner looking to co-develop, Starboard Tack offers the development and operating expertise to bring it to life.
Operating Standards
Every Starboard Tack facility is held to the same operating standard: controlled access and security, disciplined maintenance, hurricane-resilient construction, and a retrieval experience built around speed and customer convenience. Consistency is the brand.
