GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — Officials in Grand Haven decided in a meeting Monday evening to demolish two out of three buildings at Chinook Pier. All three are currently unoccupied due to widespread mold issues.
Grand Haven spent over $25,000 since last summer trying to remediate the mold found in the air samples of the city-owned buildings. Recent cost estimates to restore the structures are between $800,000 and $1.3 million, said City Manager Pat McGinnis.
"It rapidly grew to be much more costly than we originally thought," McGinnis said. "Purely from a business perspective, the economics are not good, so we would recommend not doing it and demolishing all the buildings."
The City Council decided to demolish the two large buildings—A and B—while maintaining the third—C.
The estimated cost of demolishing buildings A and B, while remediating building C, is $115,000 paid over 15 years.
It might make more financial sense to demolish the buildings and rebuild the shopping center, McGinnis said.
"The possibilities are endless of what could go there," he said. "I can only begin to wonder what people might come up with, so I think we want to spend...spring and summer in an ideation mode."
The City is considering allowing several current Chinook Pier tenants to occupy the Grand Trunk Depot next season. Grand Haven would spend $100,000 to prepare the building for businesses.
"We're very committed to trying to help [the other businesses] find a location," McGinnis said. "We keep the public interest in mind as well as the bottom line."
He said residents hate to see the Chinook Pier go.
"People have grown up with this, and their kids [and grandkids] have grown up with this," McGinnis said.
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