With a condo, a 52-foot cruiser and a boat slip, Cliffe Laborde is living his best life.

Mike Vogel | Florida Trend

Cliffe Laborde and his wife, Kerry Kennan Bean, live at Marina Pointe, a luxury condo development with a 159-slip marina on Tampa Bay.

Upon moving to Tampa, Louisiana transplant Cliffe Laborde wanted a condo — and a boat slip. “There’s nothing like waking up — and I’m going to do it Wednesday — at 5:30 in the morning, and then hitting the elevator and going downstairs,” Laborde said in an August interview, “and we’ll run 15 minutes from here and slay the snook and the redfish and speckled trout in season. It’s unbelievable. And be back here at 10:45.”

As the number of boats increases and the availability of marina slips shrinks, developers with boat slips have an in-demand amenity. BTI Partners’ Marina Pointe in Tampa had what Laborde wanted in its 159-slip deepwater marina.

Marina Pointe executive director Dominic Pickering says marina slips are “a significant differentiator” in the luxury condo market. “The marina has become a central part of the community,” he says of Marina Pointe, “not only for owners with boats, but also for those who don’t own one. People love to have views of water in all directions, and the added attraction of being able to cruise out on a boat with neighbors and friends adds a special dimension to the lifestyle at Marina Pointe.”

Laborde, a lawyer and lifelong boater, moved to Florida in 2020, reunited with his Georgetown University college sweetheart, Kerry Kennan Bean, and got engaged. The two are now married. “I’m the luckiest man in the world because I don’t deserve her. You can put that in the article,” he says.

Laborde wanted a condo after years of looking after a big house. “And I wanted some place that had a slip,” he says. “Several people smarter than I said, ‘If there are boat slips, buy one. You won’t regret it.’ And I mean, I’m talking about people from Martha’s Vineyard to Boston to Chesapeake Bay to Louisiana.”

Laborde, who co-owns a 52-foot cruiser, took possession of his condo and 65-foot slip in July 2023. The Hillsborough County property appraiser values the slip at $81,250.

“I don’t regret it, because they’re going to run out of slips here. They’re going to have more residents than slips,” Laborde says. “If I end up not using it, I will end up selling it at a premium.”