Hagadone plans ‘mega marine center’ on Blackwell Island

The Hagadone Corp. plans a “mega marine center” with expansion next year of its boat sales and service operation on Blackwell Island in Coeur d’Alene.

Hagadone Marine Group will add three new buildings with over 32,000 square feet of service center space by next spring. The center will have up to 20 service bays and 40 technicians, plus moorage and storage, the company said.

Also, Hagadone’s Resort Boat Shop and Coeur d’Alene Custom Wood Boats will move to the marine center campus from their location off Seltice Way in Post Falls.

“This new facility is both a consolidation and an expansion of the Hagadone Marine Group. We feel the market demands it and our customers deserve it,” Duane Hagadone, chairman of the Hagadone Corp., said Saturday.

The Hagadone Marine Center now has more than 1,100 marina wet slips. If the economy keeps growing, Hagadone will add a 250-slip dry stack storage unit, the company said.

The project was made possible by the Coeur d’Alene City Council’s decision in September to annex 24 acres on the southern tip of Blackwell Island. The man-made island is at the junction of Lake Coeur d’Alene and the Spokane River in a former industrial corridor prized for its waterfront access.

Marina Yacht Club LLC, a subsidiary of the Hagadone Corp. that operates The Cedars Floating Restaurant and Hagadone Marine Center, sought the annexation. The company also asked the city for zoning that would allow a broad mix of commercial and residential development on the property.

The marine center has an “in-water showroom” that allows customers to jump in and test-drive boats.

“What we’re calling phase two is a proper service facility that matches our current sales facility,” Hagadone said. “It’ll handle the needs of not only Coeur d’Alene lake boaters, but boaters from all over the region.”

Hagadone Boat Storage, where about 1,400 boats are stored inside buildings, will remain in Stateline.

Hagadone Marine Group employs more than 130 people, from fiberglass technicians and boat builders to salespeople and marina attendants. The expansion could create up to 15 more jobs in the next two to three years, the company said.

Hagadone Marine Center boat brands include Regal, Cobalt, Malibu, AXIS, Coeur d’Alene Custom Wood Boats, and Harris Pontoons.

Hagadone bought the unincorporated southern part of Blackwell Island in 2004. In 2006, the company made a similar annexation request for a proposed $100 million development of condos, shops and offices. But the City Council, on a tie-breaking vote cast by then-Mayor Sandi Bloem, rejected the annexation.

Ginno Construction and Welch Comer Engineers are working on the expansion project.