Grand Haven’s rewritten Diesel Plant deal gives the developer 14 months to build, and demolition won’t count

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — The developer that bought Grand Haven’s former Board of Light and Power Diesel Plant would have 14 months to start building on the Harbor Drive site, and knocking down the old plant would not count as a start, under a rewritten agreement placed before the City Council on Monday, Oct. 5.

City administration recommended that the council approve the deal with Grand Power Works LLC, according to the meeting agenda. A record of the vote had not been posted by Wednesday morning. The council’s next regular meeting is Oct. 19.

The new document replaces the purchase-and-redevelopment agreement the two sides signed in June 2022. Because the sale has already closed, Assistant City Manager Dana Kollewehr wrote in a Sept. 30 memo, the city attorney stripped out the price, earnest money, due diligence and closing terms. What is left sets out what the developer has to build and what the city may do if the project stalls.

The project description attached to the agreement calls for roughly 12,000 square feet for businesses, with 20 to 30 parking spaces outside, plus 15 to 20 condominiums averaging about 2,000 square feet. The developer would also have an exclusive arrangement with the city for more parking at the water treatment plant, with overflow parking at Mulligan’s Hollow.

The agreement is specific about what counts as getting started: site preparation and, at a minimum, digging a footing trench and pouring footings. Once work begins, the developer must carry it through in good faith on a commercially reasonable timeline. The developer still has to win city sign-off on a site plan, drawings and renderings.

Until the project is substantially complete, the city would hold a right of first refusal. If the developer accepts an outside offer for all or most of the property, Grand Haven would have 21 days to match it. The right would not cover sales of individual condos, and the city would subordinate it to a lender or investor at the developer’s request, subject to city approval of any successor developer.

The developer is also bound to try in good faith to land the Grand Haven Children’s Museum as a tenant for part of the business space. The museum and Grand Power Works signed a memorandum of understanding in September to explore the site, though the museum said that step is not a final commitment.

At a Sept. 8 work session, the development team proposed razing the plant and putting the museum on the ground floor of a new building with homes above, WGHN reported. Council members were warmer to that plan than to an earlier one for 19 condos, the station said, but asked about separating the museum from the residences and about how school buses and emergency vehicles would get in and out.

In a work session the same evening, council members heard a pitch to move city workers from a self-funded health plan into The Pool, a fully insured health plan pool for Michigan employers. A 2027 quote in the packet puts the city’s medical and prescription bill at $2,819,868 in The Pool, $253,131, or 8.2%, less than the projected cost of staying self-funded. The packet notes that a self-funded plan can run higher than that projection in a bad claims year, while Pool rates are fixed for the year. No vote was requested.

Earlier Monday, the council interviewed three finalists for city clerk — Deputy Clerk Amy Vos, Fruitport Charter Township Clerk Andrea Anderson and Belding Deputy City Clerk Eric Roberts — but did not pick one, the Grand Haven Tribune reported. The winner will replace Maria Boersma, who stepped down in September.

Sources:
City of Grand Haven, City Council regular meeting agenda and packet, Oct. 5, 2026 (item 14.A, Restated Agreement for the Redevelopment of Real Estate, Diesel Plant, 518 S. Harbor Drive), https://grandhaven.org/downloads/_news_/10052026cm.pdf
City of Grand Haven, City Council special work session packet, Oct. 5, 2026 (Health Insurance Transition to The Pool), https://grandhaven.org/downloads/_news_/10052026sws.pdf
WGHN, “Grand Haven, Ferrysburg Councils Set for Monday Meetings,” Oct. 5, 2026, https://wghn.com/2026/10/05/grand-haven-ferrysburg-councils-set-for-monday-meetings/
WGHN, “New Diesel Plant Plan Includes Grand Haven Children’s Museum,” Sept. 10, 2026, https://wghn.com/2026/09/10/10657909/
Grand Haven Children’s Museum, MOU announcement with Grand Power Works, Sept. 9, 2026, https://grandhavenchildrensmuseum.org/2026/09/09/grand-haven-childrens-museum-and-grand-power-works-sign-mou-to-explore-future-home-at-historic-diesel-plant-site/
Grand Haven Tribune, “City Council interviews three candidates for open clerk position,” Oct. 6, 2026, https://www.grandhaventribune.com/news/elections/city-council-interviews-three-candidates-for-open-clerk-position/article_2987e453-653a-523c-b1fc-186ca273e44d.html
City of Grand Haven, City Council meeting calendar, https://grandhaven.org/government/city-council/
Photo: WestMichigander, “Grand Haven City Hall,” Aug. 26, 2023, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), cropped and color-corrected; derivative under the same ShareAlike license, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Haven_City_Hall.jpg

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