Release – Feb 2, 2022 – The City of Holland and the Holland Board of Public Works continue to advance the process to achieve the Waterfront Holland Vision. In 2021, a two-stage Request for Qualifications/Request for Proposals process began to identify a developer to redevelop the 17-acre waterfront James De Young power plant site (the “JDY site”) owned by BPW. The process, which involved outreach to local, regional, and national developers, resulted in the prequalification of three developers. These three developers were invited in September 2021 to submit detailed proposals, which were due on January 7, 2022.
The City received one proposal, from Geenen DeKock Properties, LLC (“GDK”) a Holland-based real estate developer, investor and property management company, whose past projects include the West 8th Street Development in Downtown Holland. GDK’s proposal includes acquiring the JDY site and executing a land swap with the Verplank Dock Co. (“Verplank”) site, with Verplank operations relocated to the JDY site. GDK proposes redeveloping 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. The proposal 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 and BPW are currently reviewing the proposal from GDK, assessing its alignment with the vision 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.
