Gulf Marine Repair Corp. says it will lose customers and jobs if it's pushed off two acres it has been using for more than 10 years.
By STEVE HUETTEL
Published April 3, 2004
TAMPA - The Tampa port's smallest shipyard is feeling the squeeze from real estate development sooner than expected.
Gulf Marine Repair Corp. sits on a corner of what will become Port Ybor, a 52-acre site across Ybor Channel from the Florida Aquarium that will be developed with warehouses and office buildings. Gulf Marine must leave when its lease with the landlord, the Tampa Port Authority, expires in 2006.
But Gulf Marine executives learned Thursday that by May the shipyard won't be allowed to use two off-site areas: two acres just south of its leased property and a vessel berth it used during site preparation for Port Ybor.
Port Ybor developer Trammell Crow Co. doesn't need the areas yet, say unhappy Gulf Marine executives, and losing them so soon will cost the shipyard customers and jobs.
The Port Authority had assured Gulf Marine it could continue normal operations until the lease expires and that the port will help relocate the shipyard, company owner and president Aaron Hendry wrote Friday to Zelko Kirincich, the port's interim director. Now, he's not so sure about the agency's agenda.
"We thought the Tampa Port Authority staff was committed to maintaining the maritime industry and to (Gulf Marine's) relocation, but it seems they are primarily interested in commercial real estate development," Hendry wrote.
Maritime tenants at the Tampa port have become increasingly vocal in accusing the port staff and commission of favoring glitzy new commercial development over traditional port operations.
Port Authority officials point out that Gulf Marine has never paid rent on the two acres where it builds and stores big pieces of vessels. The berth was made available while the Port Authority rebuilt two other berths Gulf Marine previously used, said spokeswoman Lori Musser.
Trammell Crow doesn't have a date to begin building on those parts of Port Ybor, she said. But the Port Authority must be ready to start site preparation on the two acres, Musser said, and it put up fencing to meet state-mandated security requirements.
Kirincich said he hadn't seen Hendry's letter but is scheduled to meet with Gulf Marine executives Monday and will keep an open mind about their concerns. "I just can't imagine (the restrictions) having such a tremendous impact," he said. "But I'm willing to listen to anything they have to say. I have a fiscal responsibility to the port and the industry."
Gulf Marine has used the two acres for more than 10 years and had a lease to work on ships in the berth for much of that time, said vice president Rick Watts.
The extra space let the company expand business to the point that it now employs about 260 workers, he said. The port also benefits because Gulf Marine's rent is based in part on a percentage of the shipyard's revenues, Watts said.
"Gulf Marine has put (the areas) to good use, created jobs by using them and increased revenue and rent payments to the port," he said.
