An old-school Florida Keys marina just got a new owner. What’s next for the hidden gem?
Geiger Key Marina, a Lower Keys destination with an Old Florida fish-camp feel, now belongs to a Maryland-based company that runs dozens of mobile home parks in several states.
The marina — with a restaurant and RV camp all tucked away off a winding road that starts near mile marker 10.5 — changed hands this week, Florida real estate agent Billy Nash announced Thursday.
Bobby Mongelli, a Keys resident who had owned Geiger Key Marina since the 1970s, sold the property to Parakeet Communities, based in Rockville, Md., Nash said in a news release.
Geiger Key Marina has a modest, tiki hut facade with dockside wooden picnic tables and a sweet view. But it is a heavy hitter in travel guides.
A New York Times editor name-checked the marina’s menu in a column on Keys restaurants in February, recommending the fried chicken, which on his visit came with “mashed potatoes, white gravy and blistered asparagus.” (The country-fried chicken is only served on Mondays and the vegetable varies, an employee confirmed.)
What happens now, after the sale?
“Parakeet plans to operate the property as is, maintaining the rich tradition of Geiger Key,” said Nash, the founder of Nash Luxury at Illustrated Properties.
Parakeet is a property management company that bills itself as offering “affordable manufactured home living.”
A representative for Parakeet couldn’t be reached this week.
Parakeet’s website lacks phone numbers and email addresses. An email submission form didn’t work, leaving available only an online application process to rent or buy a home.
What was the final sale price? The players aren’t talking.
‘Offered’ at $17.5 million
Mongelli didn’t return two voicemails and a text message Thursday. He had answered his phone two hours earlier. He told a reporter for FLKeysNews.com/Miami Herald he was eating lunch at the time and couldn’t talk.
Geiger Key had been offered at $17.5 million through a “discreet marketing process,” Nash said, “qualifying the right buyer for the unique property.”
“No comments on pricing,” Nash said in a text Thursday night. He added that Mongelli “is a great entrepreneur who built a great business in the Florida Keys. A true steward of blue water.”
The deed isn’t yet in the public records of the Monroe County Property Appraiser’s Office or the Monroe County Clerk’s Office.
On Friday, Mongelli’s PBP Marina company was still listed as the owner of the marina property, at 5 Geiger Road, on the property appraiser’s website. The records can take weeks to reflect a sale, an agency employee said.
David Kendall, a marina property and financing expert and senior adviser at SVN Florida Commercial, who worked with Nash on the deal, said he wasn’t able to disclose the price.
Kendall confirmed the owners are now Parakeet and said Thursday was the closing date.
This marina once needed help
Mongelli owns the Hogfish Bar and Grill, and the Italian restaurant Roostica, both on Stock Island, which is the first stop out of Key West across the narrow Cow Key Channel.
Geiger Key is a little farther east of Key West at mile marker 10.5. It’s a quiet spot that can feel a world away from Duval Street’s hard-drinking bustle.
The off-the-beaten-path marina was once a project for Mongelli, who in the 1970s kept his boat there, according to a 2015 story in the Keys Weekly newspaper.
“I watched the property deteriorate,” Mongelli told the local community paper. “At its lowest point, it only sold beer. I bought it when it finally went into foreclosure. Even then, it had a kind of magic to it.”
