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American Custom Yachts Growing in St. Lucie

Posted on: Tuesday, 9 May 2006, 00:05 CDT

By Eve Samples, The Palm Beach Post, Fla.

May 8--Hoping to make itself a one-stop hub for boat owners and buyers, American Custom Yachts Inc. is more than doubling its space on the St. Lucie Canal as part of a $4.5 million expansion project.

Development plans filed with Martin County show the marina intends to grow from 12 to 28 acres, adding a 12,800-square-foot service facility and a 50,000-square-foot building it would lease to other marine-related outfits.

American Custom Yachts serves more than 400 vessels a year at its headquarters -- mostly sport-fishing boats ranging from 30 to 117 feet -- and the expansion would give it room for twice as many customers, said John Resnik, the company's project manager.

They expect to need it.

"You can see everything from the south moving to the north, and all their toys are coming with them," Resnik said.

American Custom Yachts, which both services and manufactures vessels, also intends to expand its boat storage areas. The company, owned by Dominick LaCombe and Dino and Gary Chouest of Galliano, La.-based Edison Chouest Offshore LLC, bought the additional 16 acres off Jack James Drive in 1998 with the expansion in mind.

The firm employs about 100 staffers and could double its workforce, Resnik said.

"Big is better," he said. "(LaCombe's) intention in the industry is building assets and staying here a long time."

-- Two Boca Raton developers who talked the St. Lucie County Commission into letting them build 950 homes on a rustic stretch of the Indian River Lagoon are selling the project.

The asking price for the 277-acre Coconut Cove development: $100 million.

Before dirt has even moved on the 20 eight-story buildings, 200 townhomes and 110 estate lots that won approval over residents' protests in July, developers Richard Siemens and Steven Wolf have listed the property with a local agent.

"It's going to be the highest-end project that's ever been developed in the area," said River Country Realty Inc. broker Andy Murphy, who is listing the property.

Without revealing prospects, Murphy said he's had "lots of interest" in Coconut Cove, which is east of U.S. 1 and just south of Indian River County.

He declined to explain why Siemens and Wolf, both Boca Raton-based managers of Coconut Cove LLC, were selling off. They could not be reached for comment.

-- Since it ramped up its mail-order pharmacy this year, Port St. Lucie-based Liberty Medical Supply has signed on about 4,000 more customers than it expected. So why is its parent company's stock price way down from the nearly $46 it hit in mid-April?

It could be that PolyMedica Corp.'s shares are returning to more normal levels after a big rally, said Derek Leckow, a Chicago-based analyst with Barrington Research Associates Inc.

The Wakefield, Mass.-based company's stock shot up starting in late January, when executives gave investors a first glimpse at the success of the new pharmacy program for Medicare-eligible customers.

Shares of PolyMedica (Nasdaq: PLMD) continued uphill for almost three months -- then headed south. Friday, they closed at $39.50.

Leckow said he doesn't think the recent dip is tied to upcoming Medicaid changes that will require medical suppliers -- including diabetes equipment firms such as Liberty -- to competitively bid for business starting in 2007. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued its proposal April 24.

In a note to investors, analysts with Jeffries & Co. Inc. wrote that PolyMedica is large enough to offer competitive bids when the changes take effect.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Palm Beach Post, Fla.

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PLMD,

Source: The Palm Beach Post

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