Much of Captain Craig Markham's work takes place at sea, but he's building a new headquarters for his company, Sea Tau Venice, on land.
Markham describes Sea Tau as “AAA on the water.” He helps distressed boaters who need a tow or sometimes gasoline.
“When a vessel has a problem in the water, breaks down or runs aground, they contact us,” Markham said. “We send a vessel out to tow the vessel, refuel, recover the stranded vessel, or whatever the situation may be.”
He will soon have a 5,000-square-foot office for his operations in addition to his current fleet of five boats.
“We've always worked from a home office,” the Venice resident says, but he wanted something more. “Legally, any business has to have a storefront.”
The office, to be built at 601 U.S. 41 Bypass South in Venice, will be fairly close to his home. He and his wife live nearby, and his son lives just a few houses away. All three operate Sea Tow Venice, and the company would benefit from having the building, he said.
“We need office space for people to come and have meetings and talk about what's going on and how to handle it,” Markham said. Business Observer following a May 23 community meeting about the construction project.
Markham said his biggest source of income comes from salvaging and recovering fire and abandoned boats, but he also helps with other volunteer work, such as towing a sperm whale that died off the coast of Venice in March and removing dolphins and manatees that died after a red tide.
He explains that his company works closely with agencies like the Venice Police Department, Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, West Coast Inland Navigation District and Mote Marine to address situations on the water, and they need a place to meet up.
The new headquarters will also serve as a location for maintenance.
Currently, when a boat needs maintenance, they have to go outside to some industrial area to have it done, Markham said. With the new building, when the boat goes inside for maintenance, “it's inside the building and out of sight,” Markham said during a community meeting at the Venice Police Department on May 23 in response to a resident who asked about the boat's visibility.
Another element the headquarters provides is storage space. Sea Tau conducts environmental cleanup operations and keeps materials on hand to absorb engine oil and diesel fuel in case of a major oil or fuel spill. They also need a place to store items for rescue and recovery, Markham said.
One thing Markham didn't expect at the office: customers dropping in.
“We sell memberships to boaters,” he said. For the most part, members sign up over the phone or online. He said about three or four calls a year are from people who want to come into the office and sign up for a membership.
Outside of that, his business caters to boaters on the water. “As a result, we don't anticipate any traffic at the office,” he said.
Big Plans
Markham's plans call for building two 5,000-square-foot buildings on the roughly one-acre site that is currently vacant.
The first building will be Sea Tau's Venice headquarters, set back from the U.S. 41 Bypass on Pineland Avenue. The building will include Sea Tau offices, warehouse space and storage space. The office areas will have a mezzanine level, according to Jen Smith, project manager for Wessel Construction.
The second building, facing the U.S. 41 bypass, would contain tenant space for lease, likely an office/professional or medical building, Smith told about a dozen people who attended a community meeting about the construction project.
Though it's not required to do so because it's outside the boundaries of the Venice Architectural Review District, Smith said the building facing the U.S. 41 bypass will have a similar look to others in the city. He said the terra cotta roof and bright colors will “maintain the vibrancy of the neighborhood along 41.” “We want to beautify the area and not just put a bunch of other buildings there,” Smith said.
Smith said a fence will also be installed to separate commercial buildings owned by Sea Tau from the residential neighborhoods surrounding the site.
Smith said construction is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2024. Construction on the two buildings could take six to nine months, he said, adding that he didn't want to make any guarantees.
The owner says he is excited to see the project progress.
“This is something we've been waiting for a long time,” Markham said. Business Observer After a community meeting. He's owned the land for three years and started construction two and a half years ago.
He hit a wall when his original builder retired and then his surveyor sold his company while the Markham job was underway. It took him nearly a year to get his land surveyed, which he says was the “most frustrating part” of the process.
“We're really ready to hit the ground running,” Markham said.
