Navy Pier Marina "breaks water" - construction commences
by Navy Pier Marina 16 Nov 2024 09:10 PST
Navy Pier Marina `breaks water` - construction commences © Navy Pier Marina
NPM Venture LLC, operating as Navy Pier Marina (NPM), has announced that construction has commenced, and work will proceed throughout the winter in anticipation of its grand opening for the 2025 boating season.
Since the project is to be built over the water and there is no ground to break, a formal Water Breaking ceremony was held.
"The years of hard work, perseverance, and dedication to this project have come to fruition with this major milestone," said Randy D. Podolsky, developer of Navy Pier Marina. "Believing in a dream and making it a reality makes it all worthwhile to be able to bring recreational boater access to Navy Pier. Navy Pier Marina will offer limited availability to seasonal commercial vessels including fishing, sailing, dive and social charters, boat clubs, cruises, dealers, and other boat-share operations, in addition to prolific transient access via our easy-to-use online reservation system," he added.
Boaters from Chicago and around Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes along with boating groups seeking unique and modern mooring facilities will find a home in the heart of Chicago.
Lunch and dinner hourly tie-ups as well as single and multiple overnight stays will be available. Boaters can moor up with friends and family to eat, catch a ride on the Centennial Wheel, experience Flyover Chicago and the Chicago Children's Museum, or enjoy scores of other attractions located at Navy Pier and its surrounding neighborhoods.
The privately funded and entrepreneurially operated Navy Pier Marina will offer broadside (side-tie) mooring for vessels up to 183 feet in length on modern floating piers. The flexible dock design even allows for cleats to be repositioned to best accommodate a vessel tie-up. Marina amenities will include concierge-quality service, power and water hookups, Wi-Fi, and pump-out service.
A unique two-story boater amenity building will be constructed from single-use shipping containers which will house the marina office, ship's store, restrooms, showers, and boater's lounge, as well as a bicycle repair station, all in a pet-friendly environment which includes a pet relief station.
The building was designed to fit in harmony with Navy Pier, providing a modern facility with a retro look while utilizing shipping containers that are traditionally single-use and a burden on the environment unless repurposed. S.I. Container Builds is the marina amenities building container contractor.
J.F. Brennan has been selected as general contractor. Structuremarine has been selected to provide the robust aluminum pier infrastructure, while Marina Electrical Equipment will supply the marina electrical components.
"This is a dream years in the making," said Marilynn Gardner, President and CEO of Navy Pier. "Opening up boater access to Chicago's front porch is not only a tremendous amenity for the local and regional boating community, but also a dynamic opportunity for the 70-plus businesses that call Navy Pier home. I want to extend a personal note of gratitude to our partners at the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Chicago Department of Transportation, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Coast Guard, and the Illinois Office of Tourism for their support throughout this process."
Visit the marina's new website at navypiermarina.com for construction updates and soon to be announced reservation information. Follow Navy Pier Marina on Instagram and Facebook.
Navy Pier Marina was designed and engineered by Michigan-based Edgewater Resources.