Brookfield Properties has designated its subcontractor, International Global Yachting (IGY), to manage community sailing programs at North Cove Marina starting this season, which begins in less than four months.
IGY, which operates a chain of luxury yacht harbors around the world, but has never managed a sailing camp or school before, will be taking over from Offshore Sailing, which had previously been chosen to manage community sailing programs at North Cove, but withdrew in November after failing to gain traction with the community for two seasons.
At the January 5 meeting of the Battery Park City Committee of Community Board 1 (CB1), Brookfield vice president Callie Haines, said, “we are saddened by the departure of Offshore, but we will take this opportunity to improve upon the sailing school and the marina even further.”
She continued, “we cast a very wide net and looked at many of the sailing school operators throughout the entire region. We spoke to close to a dozen, learned what they did, how they did it, how many boats they had, what kind of programs they ran, what was successful, and what wasn’t. We did a lot of due diligence.”
Ms. Haines added, “we worked very closely with our marina operator, IGY, who have been a greater partner to us and have done an amazing job in running the marina. They have focused on what the community is looking for. And after speaking to many of the sailing school operations around the region, we came to the conclusion, for many reasons, it made the most sense, for us, to work collaboratively with IGY and have them operate the sailing school.”
When asked about IGY’s experience with sailing schools, Ms. Haines acknowledged, “this is their first venture. However, they have partnered with many sailing schools, and have run marinas that have sailing schools, and they oversaw Offshore’s operation here.” No representative from IGY attended the January 5 meeting.
Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) president Shari Hyman said afterward, “a world-class marina demands a world-class sailing school, and Battery Park City will be well-served by IGY’s combination of staff expertise, on-site experience, and commitment to community engagement. We expect Brookfield and IGY to deliver a service to be proud of, and look forward to many incredible sailing seasons to come.”
Operating a sailing school, a summer camp, and other community programs are required by Brookfield’s contract with BPCA to manage North Cove Marina, which is legally mapped as parkland.
Brookfield and IGY took over the facility as part of a controversial 2015 decision by Authority to evict Michael Fortenbaugh, the local resident and small businessman who pioneered these amenities at North Cove during the 1990s and operated there for more than two decades.
Although Brookfield had no previous experience operating marinas, it was chosen by the Authority to take over North Cove. Brookfield and IGY were both major contributors to campaigns for elective office by Governor Andrew Cuomo, who controls the BPCA.
To implement the requirements for community programming contained in its lease, Brookfield and IGY initially recruited the Offshore Sailing School to replace Mr. Fortenbaugh’s operation. In some respects, this was a surprising choice. Brookfield’s original proposal for operating the North Cove explicitly called for retaining Mr. Fortenbaugh, even going so far as to propose subsidizing his operation with reduced rent. But once the firm was designated to operate the Marina, this plan was abandoned, for reasons that were never publicly explained. After his departure, Offshore struggled unsuccessfully to replicate Mr. Fortenbaugh’s rapport with the community.
One possible reason for Offshore’s failure, according to Ms. Haines, was that, “they did not do the community outreach that we were hoping they would, and we are committed to changing that.” She added, “we learned a lot from what worked and what didn’t work for them.” She reflected that, “we would really like to create the best program possible for the community. We will continue some of what Offshore was doing, but also expand upon some of the education programming, whether it’s map reading, or the history of the harbor.”
Ms. Haines added that, “we also looked at pricing,” and “we’re committed to having this be the most affordable school in the region. That’s a goal of ours. And we’re also hoping to give a discount to Battery Park City residents.”
“One of the other things we’d like to explore,” she noted, “is partnering our sailing school with some of the other sailing schools in the region, to expand the educational and community-based programming. So we’ve had several discussions with other sailing schools.”
Ms. Haines noted that IGY, “is successful in the boating realm. They have the relationships, they have the know-how, they have the talent, and most importantly, they have the commitment to the marina and to Battery Park City. And for us, that meant they were going to be here for the long haul.”
Ms. Haines continued that IGY, “wants to make it successful, they want to do what’s right for the community, they understand the community and what it’s looking for, and that’s something that’s invaluable to us. Having IGY run both the marina and the sailing school gives us efficiencies that we didn’t have before, and it opens the door for us to do a lot more.”