MUSKEGON, Mich. — Tuesday night, the Muskegon City Commission approved the cooperative agreement with the Adelaide Pointe project, moving developer Ryan Leestma closer to seeing the development becoming a reality.
“Typically what people have done with waterfront [properties] is they basically slice it up into single family lots. All the lots sell around the lake and then basically ‘this is mine,’ ‘this is not yours,’ ‘you can’t touch it,’ and there’s a lot of people that would love to get to the lake, but can’t afford it,” Leestma said during an interview with FOX 17. “Our concept is quite a bit different, where we’re actually utilizing our waterfront space to bring anybody to Muskegon Lake. Doesn’t matter how much you make or what your abilities are, or what your background is.”
However, on Wednesday afternoon, Leestma told FOX 17 that the Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy permit that they need in order to move forward may be delayed due to a public hearing.
FOX 17 reached out to EGLE for comment and are waiting to hear back.
However, as soon as they get the permit, Leestma said Leestma Management LLC will be ready to redevelop the former industrial site into a waterfront community.
“If you want to get a cheeseburger or a beer, if you want to look at renting a slip, if you want to buy a condo, if you want to stay overnight in the hotel, you know, if you just want to stop by on your boat for a few hours, the idea being that there’s something for everybody,” Leestma said.
He said the $250M redevelopment will include condos, apartments, a boat dealership, a restaurant, an event center, and office space, all constructed using mass timber. They’re even talking to a senior living company about adding a facility there.
“In the spring we hope to start building a 55-unit condos building,” he said. “We already have $18.5M dollars worth of reservations. So, it’s a huge deal. [We] may start a 120,000 square foot storage building this fall.”
The condos will be starting at $600,000, he said, which is market rate. However, their goal is inclusivity and he wants everyone to know they are welcomed in the area.
That’s the part that the Muskegon City Commission was concerned about most, making sure it was accessible and open to the public.
“Oh I’m grateful that we got this first step accomplished. We’ve been working with this developer for quite some time,” said Muskegon Interim City Manager LeighAnn Mikesell during a phone interview with FOX 17. “We kind of started this process over again. The development agreement got kind of large and unyielding, and so we’ve broken it up into stages. This is just the first stage. This agreement is the cooperative use agreement which outlines how the two parties are going to interact and share property.”
Mikesell said along the property there’s three peninsulas, two owned by Adelaide Pointe, and the other by the city. They agreed that Adelaide Pointe would make improvements to the peninsulas to make it public-friendly.
“We’re actually taking our peninsulas and donating all of the land to the public, or we have an easement to the public,” Leestma said. “That’s part of the agreement that was signed last night that basically allows the public use all that. So, when we’re dredging out the marina basin, we’re actually planting native species on the bottom and creating fish habit. It’s literally never been done before in the state of Michigan.”
He said they’re also creating three acres of wetlands on Muskegon Lake that’ll line the public parks they’re also creating.
Because of it’s sustainability, the Adelaide Pointe project is generating a lot of buzz, he said, from places far away like Abu Dhabi.
Now he’s waiting for the permit. Once that comes they’ll be ready to go.
“I think it really comes down to when we get our EGLE permit. As soon as we get our EGLE permit, we’re going to start putting rocks in the water,” Leestma said. “I actually have purchased the rock. I don’t have a permit. I bought the rock. The docks are being built. The diesels are idling, right. Basically, it comes down to EGLE cutting the permit.”
