Discovery Center & Pier announced on Tuesday that work has officially begun to transform the former Traverse City Light & Power coal dock on West Grand Traverse Bay into a “fee-free, barrier-free park and hub for water-based activities.” A groundbreaking ceremony took place at the pier on Monday (pictured), formally kicking off what Discovery Center & Pier calls “Phase 1A” of a multi-phase process for revamping the site.

The transformation of the dock has been a years-in-the-works project, dating back to 2016 when Rotary Camps and Services purchased the property from the City of Traverse City for $1 million. In 2018, Rotary Camps and Services received a $2 million state grant which enabled the organization to pursue several key maintenance and improvement projects at the site, including the dredging of the harbor basin, the installation of floating docks to accommodate tall ships, converting a former coal storage lot across M-22 into a parking lot, and more. Those efforts turned the properties on either side of M-22 into the home of Discovery Center & Pier, the nonprofit organization that now manages the pier.

With those preliminary steps done, Rotary Camps and Charities announced plans last December to kick off a $3 million fundraising effort aimed at finally converting the dock to a public park. Now, that transformation is officially underway. The visioning for the conversion involved input from individuals with disabilities, with the goal of creating a public space that will offer universal access to all. Discovery Center & Pier partnered with Disability Network Northern Michigan to assist with that process.

While Discovery Pier is already open to the public, the property is mostly gravel and is not universally accessible to people with disabilities. Per yesterday’s press release announcing the project's official commencement, the new redesign “will incorporate universal design principles which exceed the requirements outlined by the Americans with Disabilities Act.” Features will include barrier-free pathways, shade structures, an outdoor classroom pavilion, a new fishing railing designed to be accessible to people of all ages and abilities, and open space lawn. A later phase of the project will also add an adaptive kayak launch to the pier.

Discovery Center & Pier estimates that Phase 1A of the project will be completed by May 2023.

The transformation of Discovery Pier may also prove to be just the first major step in a much larger transformation, which could bring an 85,000-square-foot, $60 million freshwater research center to the site. That ambitious vision is the end goal of a partnership between Discovery Center & Pier, Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse Connect, 20Fathoms, and Michigan Technological University, and would include not just a public pier, but also research labs, classroom and seminar space, a startup incubator, and more. The Ticker first reported on those plans in July, and they were reaffirmed by the various project partners last week.