Photo Credit: Coolest Coast
The expansion of Manitowoc’s downtown via the River Point District is, as Mayor Justin Nickles put it “coming along.”
We spoke with the mayor about the topic, and he said that they did have a bit of a setback with the public portions of the project.
“The kayak launch, and the public walkways and a lot of that, the bids came in much higher than anticipated,” the mayor explained. “I’m looking to put money in next year’s (2023) budget to offset those costs.”
Nickels anticipated construction on those portions of the area west of North 10th Street will begin this spring.
The most visible part of that project is the River North Apartment building, which Nickels said is on schedule.
“Looks like the end of the year, early 2023 for them to open,” he said. Nickels went on to say that “the roads have opened, except for River Point Drive. York Street extended, Buffalo, and the new Boulevard are all open, so if you are down there, you can park on the streets and enjoy it.”
Crews are still working on some of the aesthetics in the district, while bids are coming in for several other parcels of land in the former CN Peninsula.
While Mayor Nickels would not reveal the names of who is placing bids, he did say “residential is one big interest down there. Obviously, we want to fill the space with some commercial, so we are trying to make sure we are not just giving it all away to residential.”
