The plot of land, which sits between North Harbor Drive and the Grand River, once housed retail and dining space called Chinook Pier. In 2020, those buildings were torn down due to mold and water damage. The city made a request for proposal, or RFP, one year ago, but only received a single response. City Planner Brian Urquhart explains why.
“The first one was pretty restrictive. There was a little bit of some restrictions and perhaps that’s the reason why there was only one submission.”
Urquhart says the city is now making a new RFP, looking for a public-private partnership that will utilize all of the amenities that bring 2.1 million visitors to Grand Haven every year.
“This is a blank canvas. We’re really open. It’s an open slate. We want something to utilize our competitive advantage that we have here in Grand Haven of having the proximity to the waterfront, proximity to our downtown. It would just compliment so much to the entire community on a year-round basis.”
The city will be accepting proposals from now through April 17th and hopes development teams will bring some unique ideas to the area.
“That’s why we feel compelled to really put this out there and really have an open-ended book to really say, ‘Okay, we want to see as many proposals and as many options as we can.’”
