Detroit’s Getting A New Beach. This Is What It’ll Look Like.

On Monday, a groundbreaking was held for the new Atwater Beach project on the Detroit Riverfront.

The 3.2 acre project, on a former Coast Guard buoy storage site (and former site of a couple cement companies) promises to be one of Detroit’s new must-see attractions when it’s complete.

Sven Gustafson caught up with Mark Wallace, CEO and President of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy to talk about the project on our Daily Detroit podcast.

Here are are some of the features in store, per the Conservancy:

• A large, sandy beach area and lush green expanse for picnics.
• A play scape inspired by a West Coast lifeguard station with areas for children to climb, slide and jump.
• A musical garden that will offer children the opportunity to learn in an interactive way about different objects that make musical sounds and tones. Both the play areas will have seating for parents and caregivers.
• A 1,000 square foot shed with large, garage-door style doors that’ll be home to special events and more
• A barge for food and drink, spanning two boat slips in the water and offering great river views, with planters made of recycled antique truck tailgates from Detroit automakers and a vintage van that will serve as the bar.

Here are some renderings of the project, courtesy of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy.

On the barge.

The event space.

Musical garden and play area.

Construction is expected to begin immediately and is scheduled to be completed in summer 2019. Previous reports peg the cost at about $1 million.