Hartshorn Marina and Village in Muskegon

MUSKEGON, MI – Muskegon developer Ryan Leestma knows how to take advantage of an opportunity when he sees one.

He recently did so by purchasing the Hartshorn Village development, which is directly next to his $250 million project, Adelaide Pointe, on Muskegon Lake.

“The reason I bought (Hartshorn) is it butts up to Adelaide Pointe and because that development has a number of benefits to it that the city obligated itself to,” Leestma told MLive/Muskegon Chronicle in an interview.

Construction on Hartshorn Village, located at 1000 W. Western Avenue next to the city-owned Hartshorn Marina, began earlier this year with the completion of two single-family homes. Originally designed to have 55 single-family homes, the current development plans call for 38 homes and the 17-unit, multi-story building.

Leestma did not disclose how much he paid for the property.

The purchase of Hartshorn Village does not include the marina itself, Leestma said, and he expects the deal to be finalized in two to three weeks. With the addition of Hartshorn, it brings the entire Adelaide Pointe project to 45 acres and covering 1.25 miles of Muskegon Lake waterfront.

Adelaide Pointe, once fully completed, is expected to feature a 110-unit hotel, boat storage buildings, condominiums and apartments, shops, restaurant and bar, boat and paddle board rentals, a new public boat launch and public fishing pier.

How Hartshorn and Adelaide Pointe will fully mesh together is still up in the air, but the purchase “just made sense,” Leestma said. The benefits of buying the development, he said, includes access to Hartshorn’s community building, pool, dock upgrades, and ramp upgrades.

“Those are all things I need at Adelaide Pointe so it just makes sense to combine Hartshorn with Adelaide Pointe and share those amenities between two communities,” he said.

Another advantage, Leestma said, is the development agreement gave him the rights to operate Hartshorn Municipal Marina.

A 270-slip marina, that will include 75 transient slips, will be built at Adelaide Pointe, which was something Leestma took into considering when buying Hartshorn.

“There are a number of staff members (at Hartshorn) that understand how to run a marina, how to work with customers, boat slips,” he said. “In the context of building out Adelaide Pointe, what’s easier? Using existing staff that know what they’re doing or building your own from scratch and hoping it works out.”

The Hartshorn purchase gives him direct access to a city-owned boat ramp as well as two forklift drops that are on the property. With access to those amenities, it saves Leestma $4.5 million by not having to install that equipment as part of the Adelaide Pointe development, he said.

As for Adelaide Pointe – with $17 million in condo reservations, on top of 45 boat slips reserved – Leestma has “rocks stacked” and ready to go.

But, before Leestma breaks ground on any portion of the development, he’ll need approval from the state’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) for the marina and multi-use building.

The pubic comment process with EGLE is expected to take place within three weeks. After that, Leestma expects to have a permit in his hands. Leestma and Muskegon city officials must also sign the dotted line of an agreement before the project can begin.

“As soon as we’re able to put that together … we’ll be able to move forward,” he said.

The overall development is expected to take 10 years. Buildings will have solar panels and roof gardens and mass timber construction, a technique that uses primarily wood for the load-bearing structure.

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