A marina’s revenue-producing asset floats. Docks, finger piers, gangways and the utilities running out to each slip are the property, and the building on shore is usually a small part of the basis.
The signature fact: floating docks behave differently from fixed piers, and the study should say which it is. A floating dock system is a constructed asset that is anchored rather than founded, and its components, the floats, decking, cleats, dock boxes and the pedestals carrying power and water, are analyzed on their own facts. Fixed piers driven on piles look much more like structures. Marinas frequently contain both, sometimes on the same waterfront, which is why this type is scoped individually.
What reclassifies at a marina
5-year personal property (Section 1245)
- Power pedestals, dock boxes, hose bibs and the equipment serving individual slips
- Fuel dock equipment: dispensers, pumps, hoses, monitoring and spill-containment gear
- Boat lifts, davits, hoists and travel-lift equipment
- Pump-out stations and their equipment
- Ship-store fixtures, POS, office FF&E, security, CCTV and dock access control
- Dock lighting fixtures and Wi-Fi infrastructure serving the slips
15-year land improvements (Section 1250)
- Parking, drive aisles, trailer and dry-storage yard paving, curbing
- Site lighting, fencing, gates, landscaping, irrigation and drainage
- Bulkheads, seawalls, revetment and shoreline stabilization
- Boat ramps, launch aprons and site utilities to the waterfront
- Monument signage
39-year structural (Section 1250)
- Ship store, office, restroom and clubhouse buildings, including their systems
- Dry-stack storage structures and covered slip roof structures
- Fixed piers and pile-founded structures serving the building function
- Building electrical service, fire protection and standard finishes
What the study needs from you
Marinas are permitted, dredged and rebuilt in stages, which means the basis often arrived in pieces. Slip counts, dock replacement records, permits and dredge history all help establish what was built when. Where a dock system has been replaced since acquisition, that replacement is its own asset with its own placed-in-service date, and the retired system may support a partial disposition analysis, which is a CPA question worth raising.
Illustrative, modeled
On a $6M marina with roughly $4.5M of depreciable basis after land, an accelerated share near 35% moves about $1.6M into short-life pools, with dock utilities, fuel systems and slip equipment carrying most of it. This is a modeled figure rather than a completed client study.
Cost Seg Smart scopes marina studies individually with engineer review of the dock and waterfront systems. Fees are published at costsegsmart.com.
FAQ
Are floating docks equipment or land improvements?
They are analyzed on their facts, and the answer turns on how the system is built and anchored rather than on the word “floating.” Their components are separable, which is why a marina study should itemize pedestals, boxes and lighting rather than classifying “the dock” as a single asset.
Does dredging qualify?
Generally not as a depreciable improvement in its own right; dredging is usually treated as part of the land or as a periodic cost, depending on the facts and on whether it created a new improvement. It is worth a specific conversation with your CPA rather than an assumption.
We have submerged land leased from the state. How does that affect it?
It affects what you own and therefore what you can depreciate. A leasehold interest in submerged land with improvements you built is a different analysis from owned waterfront, and the lease is the document that establishes it.