DREAM BOATS: Lazzara Yachts

by Mary Kelley Hoppe

When he's not driving at speeds of up to 200 mph, NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon likes to unwind on his new Lazzara 106. The dream boat is one in a luxury line of motor yachts designed and built by Tampa's Lazzara Yachts.

And who can blame him? With its sleek lines and stunning interior - high-gloss cherry wood, exotic granites and marbles, glass cabinets and spacious staterooms - the 106 is paradise afloat. Furnished and outfitted with every conceivable luxury 'staple,' from fine art to fine china to plasma televisions, Lazzara yachts are a prized and pricey possession.

A Lazzara 106 will set you back a cool $8 million. The company builds about eight yachts a year for clients in Florida and across the country from its high-tech facility on Tampa Bay's eastern shore, south of the Gandy Bridge. Housed in a massive airplane hangar, with two smaller side wings, the production facility is state of the art.

Yet what strikes you immediately are the gleaming white floors - very unboatyard like. But this is no ordinary boat-building enterprise. Closer instead to modern automobile assembly, Lazzara integrates and installs fully completed components on site from the ground up. Large fiberglass parts, including the hull, main deck and fly bridge, are manufactured first. Then the frame moves to the middle hangar, where workers install engines, mechanical and electrical systems, and high-end AV and navigational electronics, before finishing and fully furnishing the interior.

Production takes about a year for a 106 (106 feet long), eight months for a Lazzara 80. The company previously built 76-foot and 94-foot yachts.

While the main hangar can house up to four boats at a time, a Lazzara 80 in-the making stands alone. Out of the water, she is massive. Just outside, Contessa (another Lazzara 80) and Susanna Bella (a 106) loll in Tampa Bay, lapping up the sunshine, while nearly a dozen tenders polish, buff, groom and accessorize them before delivering them to their new owners.

"It's a lot easier to sell a boat in Florida in December than it is up North when there's six inches of snow on the ground," says Brad Lazzara. "The climate, the environment, the market that's based here is extraordinary."

Lazzara is a family affair with deep roots in boat-building and design. Brothers Dick and Brad, and long-time partner Craig Williams, own and operate the business. Dick's son Rich and Brad's son Steve work for the company. But it was Vince Lazzara, Dick and Brad's father, who charted the course.

Born and raised in Chicago, Vince raced sailboats on Lake Michigan and was a pioneer in fiberglass boat-building. He moved his family to St. Petersburg in 1963 so he could fuel his passion for racing year round. He competed against local sailing luminaries like Charley Morgan in the exclusive Southern Ocean Racing Circuit. And he helped raise Tampa Bay to a position of prominence in the sailboat industry when he formed Gulfstar Yachts in 1970.

At its peak, Gulfstar employed more than 700 people. After selling Gulfstar, Dick and Rich formed Lazzara Yachts in 1991. The company today employs 230 workers.

"This was the sailboat capital of the U.S.," says Brad Lazzara. "Gulfstar, Morgan, Irwin, CSY, Island Packet - that was the heyday."

Contact Lazzara Yachts at 813-835-5300 or visit them online at www.lazzarayachts.com.

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