Terms are undisclosed

KAM Marine is broadening its reach in the upper mid-West US with the purchase of Northport Bay Boat Yard on Lake Michigan’s Grand Traverse Bay. The company already owns KAM Marine & Yacht Sales in Detroit, and KAM Yacht Sales Florida, located in Palm Beach.

Founded in 1965, Northport Boat Yard employs 12 people and includes 135,000sq ft of indoor storage with wet service slips. The yard can haul and service boats up to 75ft with space for up to 500 vessels, fully half in heated storage.

“Heated storage is very hard to come by in Northern Michigan,” said Daniel Stern, president of KAM Yacht Sales and partner and principal of Lormax Stern. “All the systems seem to last longer, and there are less issues with heated storage.” Stern plans to add additional heated storage, as well as sell or lease some of the yard’s 35 acres of unoccupied upland for future development.

Lormax Stern is a commercial real estate firm specialising in the acquisition, development and management of retail properties. Stern said they formed KAM Yacht Sales during the last recession when Lormax Stern started purchasing new boats from banks looking to exit the marine lending industry.

“Being in the real estate business, we had the back-of-the-house infrastructure in place to help run marinas and boatyards. Now we look for locations to purchase where we can leave a good team in place and just add some of the best practices we have learned over the years,” Stern said.

Northport Bay was a confidential listing in which Simply Marinas, a marina brokerage, contacted potential buyers privately. No terms were disclosed.

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