Roscioli expansion officially open

“There’s gonna be a day…” plotted a young Bob Roscioli after being fired for requesting a nickel raise at his $1.10 an hour job more than 40 years ago.

That day has finally come.

Roscioli’s dream began in the late 1950s and has grown to become what is now Roscioli Yachting Center in Ft. Lauderdale. The nearly complete, multimillion-dollar, full-service marine facility on the New River held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in November to commemorate an expansion more than a decade in the making.

Since 1981, Roscioli and his family (wife Sharon, daughter Heather and son Robert), have worked together to build Roscioli Yachting Center. The new corporate headquarters replete with Italian marble inlay, state-of-the-art conference room with a yacht shaped table and original paintings by Rafael Serur of Venezuela also includes executive work spaces, a captain’s lounge, commissary, fitness room, laundry and conference center.

About 100,000 square feet of facilities have been added to house fabrication, refit and painting facilities for yachts up to 155 feet in length. A total of 100,000 feet of dry dock space is available and more than 100 luxury yachts can be housed on the property. A 165-ton travel lift has been added to the existing 220-ton lift.

Expansion plans began 12 years ago with Roscioli’s efforts to purchase five acres adjacent to the eight he owned at the time. With the land declared protected wetlands by Broward County, the purchase was delayed for years, eventually being resolved when Roscioli donated more than an acre to environmental conservation.

 

Dorie Cox is a staff reporter with The Triton. Comments on this story are welcome at dorie@the-triton.com .