February 20th, 2023
Jeff Griesbauer Q & A
1. You’ve been a marina broker living in Massachusetts for 20 years. Do you only do business in MA
or the Northeast?
No. I’m a licensed broker in MA & NY but have transacted marinas in nearly every state on the
Eastern Seaboard and will continue to do so through my affiliation with Hyatt Commercial and other
cooperating brokers.
2. You said you plan to move to Maryland at some point in the next year. Why Maryland?
I was born and raised in Maryland, went to high school at St. John’s in DC and college at the
University of Maryland. My son is a sophomore in college in SC and my daughter will be heading off
to college this fall, so my wife and I have decided to move back home.
3. Did you get involved in marina brokerage directly out of college?
No. I worked in the investment banking industry in DC, VA and MA acting as a Nasdaq trader,
specializing in technology stocks, for the first 10 years of my
working career. After surviving the tech blow-up of 2000-2002, I decided to pivot into marina
brokerage.
4. You recently chose to join Hyatt Commercial in Annapolis. Why Hyatt?
The marina industry is a very specialized niche of commercial real estate which I’ve learned the
in’s and out’s of over the last 20 years. In fact, of the marina centric brokers in the US, I have
more years of expertise than all except 3 or 4 of them. After knowledge, the most important aspect
of brokerage is relationships. Hyatt has the best relationships in the Annapolis area, the State of
Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic, hands down. I’m very excited to have joined their team and look
forward to growing the Hyatt name throughout the marina industry.
5. What makes Marina Brokerage so unique compared to other commercial real estate property types?
Marinas are unique to real estate because they are often as much an operating company as they are
an investment property. The dynamic has changed over the years with the growth of 3rd party marina
operating companies but it is still a unique asset class with the real estate owners typically
running the marina operations as well.
6. Are marinas the only type of real estate you broker?
No, in fact the Hyatt team has opened up some new opportunities to expand my business practice to
waterfront industrial and development. We have clients
targeting port oriented projects up and down the east coast.