Louis Faust walked around the marina he would ultimately buy and revamp, always with the same thought.
“Man, what the heck?” Faust said. “There’s so much potential around here … it could be so much more.”
Faust has put those thoughts into action in recent months. He bought The Dock Marina and renamed it The Pointe Marina and Grill of Slidell, with a lot of investment capital going toward revitalizing the marina and its surroundings.
Among the improvements is a brand new live bait and tackle shop for fishermen, all new gas pumps, new fishing docks and boat launch, a widened boat deck, redone landscaping and the cutting down of approximately eight acres of overgrown grass and removing thirty 40 yard dumpsters of debris. The volleyball court is being redone and a soccer field is being built – Faust has no plans to make this “only” a fishing marina but a recreational area for all of Slidell.
“We want to be more than that, for sure,” Faust said. “The idea is to draw other people, more families out to see what we have to offer. Every component back there is going to feed off of one another. So this is really working out as a place for families where each person has something to do.” He is looking to have the facility organically grow within itself, catering to the needs and the requests of the surrounding neighborhoods.
A dad or mother who isn’t interested in taking the boat out on the water, for example, can still use the marina to get a little work done on it. Their son or daughter, meanwhile, may want to play a little soccer, but if not, they could elect to go kayaking, volleyball or just walk the farmers market. During certain holidays such as Halloween, there will be a pumpkin patch that the families can pull up by boat with their kids and get their pumpkin, including during Christmas time for their Christmas trees.
Filling a void in the community
There will be a lot of things to do, and particularly for young people, that fills a need in the Slidell community, Faust believes.
“Everyone has long said the same thing … there’s nothing for kids to do here. There’s such a lack of it that it’s unbelievable,” Faust said. “I’ve always been eyeing up this property and it kind of fell in my lap, and everyone says at the same time that there’s nothing to do out here. So let’s do something about that, I figure.”
The marina will also be friendly for birthday parties and other outdoor events, with a roofed area offsetting the risk of bad weather spoiling the day’s fun.
The most important thing, Faust stated, was to listen to the community, not just during the clean-up process but to be a work in progress throughout the year.
Taking care of anglers
Meanwhile, The Blue Crab Restaurant will be opening its doors this spring as part of the Pointe experience. There will be fishing rodeos and poker runs, and Faust has put considerable effort into making the details count – while drawing people outside of the fishing community is a target, he also wants to take extra good care of his anglers and boatsmen as well.
“We have an electric pressure washer so they can rinse their boat off, free of charge,” Faust said. “It’s having things like that, we hope, that sets us apart from the others. We’re going to really be an all in one recreational spot.”
On top of that, it will be a safe place for a good time as well. Part of the investment has been installing top notch security cameras around the marina and lighting to help ensure visitors know that they and their items in their vehicles will be secure.
“There used to be a lot of riff raff going on out here to all hours and we’re putting an end to that,” he said. “This is a place for families to come and have good clean fun now, in place of those bad elements.”
The Pointe Marina is located at 118 Harbor View Ct., Slidell, Louisiana 70458.
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