DiMillo’s Yacht Sales Acquires Old Lyme Marina

OLD LYME, CT – DiMillo’s Yacht Sales has acquired the former Old Lyme Marina, expanding the Maine-based company’s presence along the East Coast while building on the marina’s half-century of family-owned success. 

The marina is DiMillo’s eighth location from Maine to the Chesapeake Bay. The company also operates locations in Freeport, Portland and Kennebunk, Maine; Glen Cove, New York; and West River and Oxford, Maryland.

The site at 34 and 36 Neck Road sold on Feb. 12 for $3 million, according to Old Lyme property records.

Old Lyme Marina was owned and operated by the Abrahamsson family since 1973. 

Veteran yacht broker Bob Jarrett, who joined DiMillo’s in September to lead sales operations at the Old Lyme site, said the marina’s longstanding reputation with local boaters aligns closely with DiMillo’s family-run business model.

The marina will evolve under DiMillo’s ownership from a working boatyard and storage facility to include an active sales component, according to Jarrett.  

“You’ve got two family businesses that share common values and common goals, which is refreshing because so much of our waterfront community today is being consolidated within large corporations,” he said in a phone interview last month. 

DiMillo’s Yacht Sales was founded in 1998 by Christopher DiMillo of Portland, Maine. His website biography recalls a youth spent working in the family’s marina and his father’s popular restaurants. 

Jarrett said the Old Lyme site represents a natural expansion for a company whose clients tend to travel the Eastern seaboard.

“Becoming part of the DeMillo’s family will introduce a network of marinas and facilities for them to rely upon as they move around,” he said. 

Jarrett, who has been in boat sales for 37 years, cited a long professional relationship with former Old Lyme Marina owner Glen Abrahamsson.

Abrahamsson plans to remain for about a year to help guide the transition, according to Jarrett. Marilyn Abrahamsson will continue assisting with bookkeeping during the interim period.

“They’re wonderful people,” Jarrett said. “And we’re very excited to be working with them and glad that they’ll be staying on for as long as they would like to.”

Requests for an interview with the previous owner were not returned. 

The marina property includes a travel lift, heated indoor and outdoor storage and a full-time service team providing maintenance and repair services. Additional features include deep-water access, a protected harbor, launch services and dockage for vessels measuring up to 60 feet.

There are approximately 40 moorings and 35 slips that Jarrett said the company intends to maintain. If opportunities arise, he said DiMillo’s would consider expanding those offerings.

Jarrett said the yacht brands represented by DiMillo’s range from 35 to 55 feet, which fall under the marina’s 60-foot maximum and make the existing site “a good fit” for both customers and the company’s product range.

“We’ll maintain the high level of customer service and yard services people have come to know at Old Lyme Marina, if not improve on those with the added resources we have in our group,” he said.

DiMillo’s is also bringing on additional staff, including a new yard manager who will train alongside Abrahamsson before taking over the role. Jarrett said the company expects to retain several existing yard crew members and likely expand the team.

The company has begun making modest updates to the property, including office remodeling and reconfiguring spaces to support yacht sales operations. Jarrett suggested future investments could include improvements to waterfront infrastructure, such as docks and bulkheads, though there are no plans to change the overall footprint of the marina.

He said the company will explore how to give back to the boating and waterfront communities in the area by supporting efforts to preserve the quality of the Connecticut River and sponsoring  waterfront events or regattas. 

“I think that it’s welcoming to many boaters to hold on to the family-owned marinas, which have a little more personal type of approach,” he said.