Business notebook: Liberty Lake dealer specializes in high-end boats
The growing popularity of the Inland Northwest’s lakes and navigable rivers has drawn the interest of a Salt Lake City-based MasterCraft dealer.
The owner of Utah Water Sports and his nephew opened a 10,800-square-foot dealership July 2 near Interstate 90 in Liberty Lake called MasterCraft Inland Northwest. It is now the area’s exclusive dealer for the high-end ski, wakeboard and luxury powerboats.
“I got the better end of the deal because I got to move here with all these incredible lakes,” says co-owner and general manager Shaun Sorensen who opened the dealership with his uncle Wayne Sorensen.
“We did a lot of market research here. This place is too beautiful not to fill up with people,” he says. “Fifty lakes within 50 miles … that’s pretty unique.”
Sorensen also noted the ability to own waterfront property and build docks – an opportunity unlike most of Utah’s lakes and rivers where private ownership is prohibited – is an opportunity that allows boating and water sports to be a regular part of summertime activity for many people here.
In Liberty Lake, the state-of-the-art dealership was built on a three-acre parcel just inside the city limits on the north side of the freeway between the Liberty Lake and Barker Road exits.
The two-story building was designed and constructed by Garco Construction of Spokane and features a 4,500-square-foot showroom – large enough to showcase 10 boats, a five-bay service department, a pro shop filled with water skis, wakeboards, life jackets and sunglasses, and second-story offices. Items to dock and clean boats also are for sale.
The service department will service boats other than MasterCraft, and technicians are available to service boats along the docks.
The dealership currently employs six people including the 28-year-old Sorensen. It features 19- to 28-foot powerboats such as the MasterCraft X-Series and ProStar Series boats. Prices for new boats range from $40,000 to about $140,000, and they hope to sell 100 new boats in their first full year of operation.