November 7, 2007
Bainbridge-- After months of construction, the Bainbridge Marina is nearly complete. Ten of the 42 slips are rented, and the gas station is open for business. "This has always been our plan and now we're finishing it. This will be the last piece," says City Manager Chris Hobby.
That last piece is a marina store and restaurant, the plans and bid for which were approved at last night's city council meeting. "The contract went to a local contractor which is always good when that can happen: Southern Triad Construction," Hobby says. The city will operate the marina store and office: half of the 2400 square foot building.
"The restaurant side we're leaving unfinished. What we envision is, it will be a lease space. We'll find a restaurant operator that's interested in taking that space," explains Hobby. The hope will be the restaurant will draw more business to the marina.
But even this whole complex is just one piece in a much larger picture. "What we're trying to do is capitalize on the river, the greatest natural asset that we have running through the heart of our community. And we're trying to develop that into an economic asset," Hobby says. New boat ramps and a river walk will soon be underway, too.
But with all of the plans centered around the river, water levels could now play a factor in achieving success. "Its something that we do have to keep an eye on, and we have to be engaged with the corp of engineers because obviously they're the management of the system," Hobby says. For now, the city will continue with plans and hope for the best.
The marina store and restaurant project will cost around $269,000 thousand dollars. Southern Triad will begin construction early next month.
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