(Above) Rendering, updated in November, of a new marina planned for the north side of Navy Pier. (Click on image to view larger version.)

By Steven Dahlman

20-Dec-23 – Now with angled docks, a breakwater, and resolution of a seven-year dispute with the City of Chicago, construction will likely resume on an all-transient marina on the north side of Navy Pier.

The project is “back on track,” according to Randy Podolsky, developer and manager of Navy Pier Marina.

Podolsky says updated designs were re-submitted to various agencies – including Chicago Department of Transportation – on December 11, and he expects feedback by the end of the year. Construction, he says, should begin next year, with the marina opening in the late spring or early summer of 2025.

NPM Venture LLC had approval from the Chicago City Council in 2016, all of the city, state, and federal permits it needed, and was planning to have the marina ready for the 2021 boating season. However, a “harbor permit,” needed to construct any structure within 40 feet of a Chicago harbor, was denied by the Chicago Department of Transportation.

CDOT Commissioner Gia Biagi said she denied the permit because the marina posed “unacceptable security risks” due to its proximity to the Jardine Water Treatment Plant, though not detailing those risks, according to NPM Venture. The plant, located just north of Navy Pier, supplies water to consumers in the northern, downtown, and western parts of Chicago and many surrounding suburbs.

In 2021, NPM Venture asked a Chancery Court judge to order Biagi to issue the permit so the marina could be built. A settlement, announced on November 13, 2023, allowed NPM to submit revised plans – and CDOT, says Podolsky, “has to act reasonably and per their ordinance when reviewing.”

The privately-owned marina, intended as a Navy Pier amenity, will accommodate, along 6,100 feet of mooring, as many as 150 boats up to 180 feet in length.

Boaters will pay by the hour, day, or week. According to NPM Venture, the marina will generate for the city $11 million in taxes, fees, and other revenue each year.

Podolsky says it will be Lake Michigan’s only dedicated transient marina. The first slip of the marina will be reserved for first responders.

The north side of Navy Pier, with its driveways and garages, has always been underutilized, he says.

“This will bring life to the north side of Navy Pier,” Podolsky (left) told members of Chicago Harbor Safety Committee on December 12. Podolsky says the area sees thousands of boats every summer, but the lack of a functioning marina has prevented many tourists from enjoying Navy Pier.

Said Podolsky, “Every day that I wake up, since 1983, I say, ‘Why can’t I take my boat to Navy Pier? Why can’t I stop for lunch? Why can’t I go to dinner? Why can’t I spend a few nights?’ And it gnawed at me for 40-some years.”

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