The Marina at Atlantis was constructed by Shoreline Foundation as part of the 34 acre resort development, Atlantis at Paradise Island. With a designed depth of 12 feet, the Marina provides dockage for 63 vessels and megayachts of up to 200 feet in length, and features 15 finger piers ranging in length from 50 feet to 235 feet. Having received the prestigious Blue Flag designation in 2006, the Marina is recognized as being one of the most luxurious megayacht marinas in the world.

Shoreline Foundation began the job after 250,000 cubic yards of dry land had been excavated to form the basin of the Marina. Carved out of the rock-like ground, the walls of the basin were nearly vertical and exceptionally stable. Within the 12 foot deep, walled-in, nearly dry cavity, Shoreline Foundation began construction of almost 4,000 feet of concrete panel bulkhead. Along the perimeter of the basin, concrete king piles were driven to a standard elevation. Once in place, pre-cast concrete panels were secured to the piles and suspended to form the upper section of the concrete bulkhead. To secure the lower section, forms were set in place and backfilled with concrete creating a solid concrete wall from the top of the bulkhead to the bottom of the basin.

Building in a dry basin allowed for tremendous precision during the installation of the piles for the concrete finger pier docks. Once the piles were in place, the pile caps were formed, poured, and stripped, and the precast concrete deck sections were set in place. Unlike in a conventional marina construction setting where work is performed from the upland or from a floating barge, all of this work was performed on structures 16 feet in the air, using a fleet of cherry picker vehicles. All greenheart fender and mooring pilings were also driven in the dry. Installation of utility lines, power pedestals, mooring cleats and pump-out facilities completed the construction process.

From start to finish, Shoreline Foundation completed the project within budget and in the record time of nine months. For their outstanding effort in the marina planning and design, Moffatt & Nichol received the 2000 Florida Institute of Consulting Engineers’ Engineering Excellence Award.