ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – Escanaba’s Municipal Marina is on its way to getting an upgrade.
In September, the Harbor Advisory Committee began gauging public interest in establishing a restaurant at the marina. On Thursday, November 16, the Escanaba City Council voted unanimously to allow the committee to begin requesting proposals for the project.
City Manager Jim McNeil says adding a business at the marina would generate revenue to fund needed improvements.
“The fuel station, dock replacements coming, certain maintenance of the grounds,” listed McNeil. “An additional revenue source that isn’t a tax certainly can help fund operations down there.”
In a previous interview with WZMQ 19 News, Harbormaster Shayne Sanville said the addition of a restaurant to the marina would bring in more boaters and boost the local economy.
“Anything to get more boaters this far north would be a good thing for the harbor,” Sanville said in September. “We think it would bring more people all the way down Main Street and draw more people to the downtown area.”
An exact location for the restaurant has not yet been determined. Mayor Pro-Tem Karen Moore says because the Request for Proposal is written broadly, it allows for future discussion and ideas to be considered.
“We did have a meeting at the Yacht Club and there was 40 – 45 people there and, probably, over 90% of them were in favor of this, wholeheartedly,” she said. “Most of them were members of the Yacht Club.”
Moving forward, harbor administration will begin soliciting proposals for the restaurant.
Click here to read WZMQ 19’s first story on a potential restaurant at the marina.
