Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Conley.
Hi Josh , we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Our Co-Founder & President has been in the investment world for nearly 34 years and has extensive experience in oil & gas, commercial real estate and business. As an avid boater that lived at a marina on his houseboat for several years, he started seeing similarities with marinas and other asset classes such as multi family, self storage, senior housing, mobile home parks, etc. Specifically the lack of consolidation that each asset class has gone through and how investors have been able to enjoy the value-add opportunities in this segments over the past decades. He wondered why a marina deal never crossed his desk and quickly learned that there are over 10,000 marinas in the US and of the ones not owned municipally, over 90% are owned by mom & pop operators that run them as lifestyle businesses. The high barrier to entry combined with a huge lack of consolidation caused him to start moving towards this exciting asset class nearly 5 years ago. His wife’s family owned a marina, he and his partner, Josh Conley, are lifelong boaters and with their investment and business experience confidently sought to tackle this emerging asset class for investors. In 2022, the first 2 marinas were acquired and as of 2025, the company now manages 8 marinas across 5 states, with aggressive growth plans.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
If everything was smooth for a business, everyone would own one! We’ve been fortunate to have a great team and acquire marinas with a solid staff, in most cases. We’ve also been fortunate to purchase marinas at the right price for the most part which allows room for error, if ever needed. As with all growing businesses, we have had some bumps along the way including unexpected partnership changes, a significant rainy season that affected the bulk of our properties at the beginning of the high season in 2025, as well as not raising enough expansion capital for our 1st 2 properties. We’ve still been able to satisfy the needs of the business and remain financially healthy while we seek to mitigate issues moving foward and continue to increase revenue.
We’ve been impressed with New Haven Marinas, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
New Haven Marinas specializes in acquiring marinas across the United States, partnering with accredited investors, and building a portfolio of World-Class Marina Investments. Marinas are unique in that there is limited waterfront property and yet boats are continually manufactured and sold. People enjoy being outdoors and on the water and require a multitude of amenities that these properties provide to have a nice weekend or memorable vacation. We are known for improving and expanding these properties to provide more homes to boats without a place to park. What makes us unique is we allow everyday, accredited investors an opportunity to invest in these properties passively, instead of just institutional funds. We are proud of the growth and strategic partnerships built in just over 4 years in business. We doubled our portfolio in 2025 and our exposure continues to increase with time. If you are a boater or love the outdoors, we encourage you to visit one of our properties which span 5 states currently. If you are an accredited investor, you can learn about how to participate in these opportunities without owning and operating your own marina.
What’s next?
The plan for the future is to continue to grow by acquiring several marina properties each year. We plan to potentially add a management only function to our strategy for marina owners that may not be ready to sell yet, but would benefit from being more hands off with their properties. Additionally, we seek to leverage our strategic partnerships to become an industry leader and develop proven processes and technology for marinas.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.newhavenmarinas.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newhavenmarinas/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nhmarinas
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/new-haven-marinas/
