95.3 / 88.5 FM Grand Rapids and 95.3 FM Muskegon
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Largest housing development in Muskegon since the 1980's gets key approval from city commission

Courtesy Roberta F. King

  

A proposed new neighborhood in Muskegon picked up steam this week, as the city commission Tuesday approved plans for it’s development. The new neighborhood is called “The Docks” and it’s a new, 240-unit housing neighborhood that will theoretically lie between Lake Michigan and Muskegon Lake.

If built, it would be the largest new housing development in the city of Muskegon since the 1980’s, and with City Commissioners approving the plans Tuesday, The Docks moves one step closer to becoming a reality.

Chuck Canestraight is the President of Sand Products Corporation, the company that has owned the property since the 1930's. He says that while some local residents were apprehensive of the new development out of the gates, the new neighborhood will ultimately bring "new residents, tax revenue and business growth" to the lakeshore community.

“The thing that excites us the most is the ability to have married the feel of the surroundings of this site and share it with the locals,” Canestraight said. “We caught a lot of static in the initial meetings and we listened. We have reduced the density of this development, and added features to it that will invite the public, to be able to neighborly with these new neighbors and new tenants. So, we are very proud of the product, there is still static out there, but we believe as people sit back and stop necessarily fearing the change, they will realize, ‘hey this is a benefit to the whole neighborhood.’”

The Docks would be located on Pigeon Hill, "a sand dune that was mined during World War II for metal castings supportive of the war effort." According to a news release, "the 80+ acres of former industrial land" the Docks would canvass would include "homes, a marina, wetlands and boardwalks," a new "community within the city."

Officials hope to break ground in 2020. 

Tags
Related Content