Jacobsen’s Marine, an institution in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood since 1951, will weigh anchor and motor into a new home at the Port of Edmonds next year.
The port’s board of commissioners approved on May 14 the signing of a letter of intent with Horizon Marine, Inc., the parent company of Jacobsen’s Marine, for a long-term lease of port land. The company expects to open its doors in late 2008, according to company owner and president, Greg Jacobsen.
The firm intends to construct an approximately 13,000-square-foot building on port land on Admiral Way, north of the current boat yard and across the street from port headquarters. The company will own the building and pay the port lease-hold taxes and rent, said port-commission president Marianne Burkhart. The parties, she added, still are negotiating terms of the deal.
“This is a real coup” for the port, exclaimed Burkhart. “They looked around and picked us … we didn’t go looking for them.”
Jacobsen’s Marine sells and services salt-water sport-fishing boats; they specialize in Grady-White and Parker boats and Yamaha engines. Located at 2412 NW Market St., the company owns and operates out of four separate buildings on about 30,000 square feet of inland property, Jacobsen said.
Theirs is a seasonal business that employs 14-16 people during its busiest months. Jacobsen said it’s likely the ranks will increase by a couple more employees after the move to Edmonds.
The main reason for relocating, the company president explained, is that the length of boat they sell has hit 36 feet and it’s too difficult to move and show vessels of that size inland. The second reason is that “the property we’re on in Ballard is too valuable for what we’re using it for. The site is underutilized. The writing has been on the wall for the past five years,” Jacobsen said, adding that plans are to sell the Ballard property.
He said he is looking forward to moving out of the “hodge podge” they have in Ballard and into a unified space for their offices and work areas.
Edmonds is centrally located for Jacobsen’s Marine customers, who hail from Bellingham to Portland, said Jacobsen, son of company founder Bob Jacobsen, who passed away in February.
The city’s proximity to the Puget Sound waterfront, I-5 and the Olympic Peninsula plus the port’s and city’s tie-in with sport fishing also were selling points, he added. “They were so nice,” Jacobsen said of city and port officials with whom he discussed the move as early as 2005. “This is an absolute perfect fit. There’s no reason not to (move here.)”
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