Our Story

The “CenterPointe Yacht Services” story began in Door County, Wisconsin. The heart of downtown Sturgeon Bay was once known for cherries and shipbuilding because it was originally home to the Fruit Growers Cooperative and the Peterson Boat Works. The Fruit Growers Cooperative brought many of Door County’s cherry growers to Sturgeon Bay in order for their harvests to be pitted and canned.

Around the same time (1907), the Peterson Boat Works began its rich history of building world class vessels ranging from commercial tuna boats to navy mine sweepers until operations ceased in 1995. Several of the 100-year-old buildings have been set aside for residential conversion, creating unique living experiences. High ceilings, large windows, and old timbers are all a part of the past and future of The Shipyard neighborhood.

CenterPointe Marina grew out of the reclaimed land surrounding the old Peterson Boat Works. The planning began in 2003 with the purchase of the former shipyard. In 2005, inspired by the property’s rich shipbuilding history, CenterPointe Marina was born in the same location as the Peterson Boat Works 100 years earlier.

In order to satisfy customer demand CenterPointe set out to become a full service boatyard in 2009 by adding winter storage and yacht brokerage to the business. A service department was added the following year. In 2011 CenterPointe doubled its footprint by expanding south into Milwaukee, WI which is now the corporate headquarters due to its proximity to Chicago.

To reflect the expanded nature of the services offered and to signify the merger the name was changed from CenterPointe Marina to ‘CenterPointe Yacht Services’.

The Milwaukee boat yard is located in the historic Walker’s Point neighborhood and sits at the mouth of the Milwaukee harbor entrance. The property is just under 4 acres, and encompasses over 700 feet of dock wall, 100,000 square feet of indoor heated storage, a packed new boat showroom and sales department, a ship’s store and the regions most capable service department with 15 service technicians capable of handling virtually any task including fiberglass and carbon fiber repairs, paint, welding, carpentry, electrical, mechanical and diesel repair and repowering.  

In 2013, CPYS acquired ‘Great Lakes Yachts Service’ in Sturgeon Bay (formerly the famed Palmer Johnson Yachts new construction yard) and brought CPYS’s presence in the industry to a new level with capabilities beyond any other service yard in Wisconsin consisting of a 20 person staff including 10 technicians, many with new yacht construction backgrounds.

In 2016, CenterPointe expanded again into Lake Country just west of Milwaukee (east of Madison) with a full service yard in Pewaukee, WI to sell, store and service small boats (under 25’). Later in 2016, CenterPointe also established a yacht sales office in Western Michigan to better serve the growing market.

CenterPointe Yacht Sales represents some of the most respectable brands of power boats in the industry including Beneteau, Pursuit, NauticStar, Stingray, Misty Harbor, Monterey, Godfrey, Hurricane,  Lowe, and Chris Craft.

A large part of CenterPointe’s mission is the desire to serve the boating community in every way possible by delivering the ultimate boating experience. Thus our mission statement is to deliver the best, single-source boating experience on the Great Lakes.