HOLLAND, Mich. — One of the West Michigan's largest Lakeshore cities is another step closer to re-imagining their waterfront, with a new hotel and more than 100 residences.
Between 2018 and 2019, the Holland community created an initiative called 'Waterfront Holland' to build a framework and vision for the city's waterfront. The comprehensive process has continued to strengthen with the help of the City of Holland and the Holland Board of Public Works (BPW).
In 2021, Waterfront Holland started a two-stage Request for Qualifications/Request for Proposals process to start to find a developer to redevelop the 17-acre waterfront area owned by BPW.
The process included outreach to local, regional and national developers. That narrowed the search to the prequalification of three developers, who were then invited to submit proposals in Sept. of 2021.
By Jan. 7, all three developers were to have given the city their detailed proposals for the power plant site.
One of the proposals the city received was from Geenen DeKock Properties, LLC (GDK). The Holland-based real estate developer, investor and property management company is no stranger to the City of Holland as they spearheaded projects like the West 8th Street Development in Downtown Holland.
GDK's proposal for Waterfront Holland includes acquiring the JDY site and executing a land swap with the Verplank Dock Co. site, with Verplank operations relocated to the JDY site.
GDK proposes that they redevelop the current Verplank site and adjacent City-owned parcels into a mixed-use redevelopment consisting of 108 residences across four buildings with ground-floor parking, a 50-room hotel, a marina with private and transient slips, restaurants, and a docking area for cruise ships.
Their proposal also suggests that a portion of the existing JDY site would be used to create a new internal truck circulation system to support traffic flow for the three waterfront industrial users.
The City of Holland and the Holland Board of Public Works are currently reviewing the proposal from GDK, and looking at how it aligns with the statement and guiding principles of Waterfront Holland. After completing this initial assessment, the City and BPW will consider whether to proceed with the negotiation of a development agreement with the developer.
You can learn more about Waterfront Holland and its vision by clicking here.
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