Detroit Port Authority debuts new riverfront facility and wharf

On July 18, the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority will debut a 250-foot public off-shore wharf and 21,000 square foot facility along the Detroit RiverWalk.

These major additions to the RiverWalk, built at a cost of $22 million, are on Atwater at Bates, between the GM Renaissance Center and Hart Plaza. The public wharf will be able to accommodate a variety of vessels, including cruise ships and naval frigates. The 21,000 square foot facility houses the new offices for the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority, meeting rooms with a view of the Detroit River, a command room for ships, and state-of-the-art maritime technology to regulate the flow of visitors and ship traffic.

Newly-appointed DWCPA Executive Director John Jamian says the project is over 20 years in the making. "In 1998, during my first tour of duty at the Port Authority, I talked to Senator Carl Levin about a vision for our waterfront in downtown Detroit," he says. "The original vision was to build a wharf or a public walkway that was like a wharf, and really celebrating the river, the waterfront, the ships that come by, and really having this as a magnet to draw people downtown -- like most other waterfront communities."

The wharf was built to handle commercial, as well as cruise ship traffic -- and the port could be an attraction for international tourists from Windsor. "Ultimately, we'd like to consider the ability to have some sort of ferry service that can take passengers back and forth across the river," Jamian says.

Call it a maritime revival on the Detroit River. "In the old days, when a ship would basically tie up wherever it could, and there was very little ability to process people getting off the ship," he says. "It's just a dream true, because we finally have what all the other major ports across the country have, on the Great Lakes."

Source: John Jamian, Executive Director, Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority
Writer: Ashley C. Woods