Chart Your Course to the Boat Show

With spaces scarce and towing a real possibility, visitors are encouraged to park and ride

By Erik Bojnansky

More than 100,000 boat enthusiasts from all over the world will head to Miami Beach beginning Feb. 14 to gaze upon the hottest boats on display at the National Marine Manufacturers Association’s 67th annual Miami International Boat Show and the Yacht and Brokerage Show. But with only 1,500 spaces available near the Miami Beach Convention Center for non-South Beach residents, parking no doubt will be hard to find.

“Miami Beach has a lot of challenges,” said Cathy Rick-Joule, vice president of National Marine Manufacturers Association’s Southern Show Division. “We are continuously challenged with limited parking.”

This year, the challenge will be a little greater. A 108-space surface lot at 17th Street near Lincoln Road has been closed since the New World Symphony broke ground on a new Frank Gehry-designed building and 600-space parking garage just weeks ago.  

“You take those lots out of inventory, it puts pressure on the Parking Department,” Rick-Joule said. To protect the scarce parking spaces of South Beach residents, the Parking Department will be towing cars parked in residential areas on weekends and after 5 p.m. on weekdays.

“We certainly welcome these events and we want them to be successful, but we will be enforcing our residential parking zones,” said Saul Frances, director of the Miami Beach Parking Department. “If you are not a resident and you don’t have a decal, you are parking illegally and you are eligible to be towed.”

Parking violations in Miami Beach are $18, but reclaiming a car from Miami Beach’s two towing companies, Beach and Tremont, will cost at least $115 in cash.

But there is another way.

“Take the shuttle [buses],” Frances said.

The city of Miami Beach and the two boat shows will run free shuttle services from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Feb. 14 and Feb. 18, and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Feb. 15, 16 and 17. There will be 14 park-and-ride lots along Collins Avenue and Indian Creek from Seventh Street to 64th Street. There also will be plenty of maps, Frances said.

The Miami International Boat Show even went the extra mile to lease out a parking lot at the American Airlines Arena at 601 Biscayne Blvd. Exhibitors are encouraged to park their cars there and take a shuttle to the Miami Beach Convention Center. Boat show patrons can park their cars at the lot and avoid the hassle of finding spaces in Miami Beach for just $10.

Yacht and Brokerage Show publicist Emily Taffel Schaper said the show is even encouraging some patrons to arrive by boat.

“As long as they get there early, it’s free,” Schaper said. She declined to mention how many slips would be available for non-exhibitors. Schaper also admitted that, with 500 boats being tied to docks from 44th Street to 63rd Street, it may be easier to dock than to leave.

Still, parking isn’t the only challenge.

With more than 1,700 companies displaying their latest vessels and products, setting up the Miami International Boat Show is a time-consuming task, Rick-Joule said, and the National Marine Manufacturers Association receives no help from the city of Miami Beach.

“They leave us to our devices to find our own way,” Rick-Joule said, something she finds ironic considering that the city of Miami Beach bends over backwards to assist Art Basel. According to a 2005 study commissioned by the association, 145,355 people visited the boat show that year — 41 percent of whom were out-of-towners who spent $64.6 million “on travel-related goods and services during the show’s five-day run.” The Miami International Boat Show also contributed $41.6 million in sales and excise taxes in 2005.

The main Miami Beach event and satellite events in Miami (a free powerboat event will be held at the Sea Isle Marina and Yachting Center at 1635 Bayshore Drive, and the Strictly Sail Miami show will be held at the Miamarina at Bayside, 401 Biscayne Blvd.) have been financially rewarding for exhibitors. In 2005, Florida companies claimed to have earned $428.4 million in sales, according to the Miami International Boat Show spokespeople. As such, the boat show wants certain issues addressed and wants to know why Miami Beach officials built the convention center in an area with so little parking.

“I completely believe the support structure around the building doesn’t exist,” Rick-Joule said. “We have to look at 1) why they have the building there in the first place … and 2) that they need to look at long-term plans [for more parking].”

Frances said a 660-space parking garage that is being constructed at 17th Street and Meridian Avenue should be completed in early 2009. The New World Symphony garage will add another 600 parking spaces to the area. In the meantime, the existing 17th Street garage has 1,000 spaces and the Parking Department managed to add another 100 spaces in time for the boat show.

“The best thing to do is to really park off-site, whether it be Miami or the convention center area, just go straight to one of the satellite locations,” Frances said.

For more information on the Miami International Boat Show and the event’s shuttle program, visit www.miamiboatshow.com. For information on the Yacht and Brokerage Show, visit www.showmanagement.com.

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