Eventually, he envisions more restaurants, retail, office and residential projects. He wants several sellers of larger boats, marine supplies and other marine-oriented businesses to locate there. Nothing has been signed yet, but Aviram said he wants Echelon to consider staying on as the project's developer. Mark Stroud, Echelon's commercial development director, confirmed that his company had been studying that possibility. Even though Echelon and its corporate predecessors had been slowly acquiring lots and parcels in the Bayboro area for years, Stroud said it became increasingly clear to company executives that the area and its marina were not a good corporate fit.
Echelon develops large residential and office projects in the South.
The marina had simply been an add-on when the company was spun off former parent Florida Progress Corp. several years ago. And as a publicly-traded company, it was getting hard to explain to shareholders how holding onto lots and parcels was a good corporate strategy. Plus, Aviram wanted the marina. He had been courting the company for some time to consider a sale to him. Aviram said he had undertaken redevelopment projects in Portland, Ore., and Seattle just as those downtowns were getting to be hot draws.