For quiet philanthropist Jim Acheson,
it’s never been the place to leave.
Fueled by fond memories left in the
wake of freighter watching as a kid growing up on
Port Huron’s south waterfront, Acheson’s
passion for boats and commitment to community now
back a 10-year plan to revitalize a mile-long stretch
of once-blighted industrial property along the St.
Clair River, which separates Michigan from Ontario.
For more than 150 years, the railroads
and scrap yards here prevented Port Huron residents
and visitors from enjoying the river’s blue
views.
“It was and is an ideal location
to take in all the waterfront sights and attractions
Port Huron has to offer, just a short drive from
large metropolitan areas,” noted Paul Maxwell,
spokesman for development company Acheson Ventures
LLC, through which Acheson purchased the land. “We’re
discovering large numbers of people coming here now
who never knew it existed.”
With good reason.
Plans to simply clean up the first
31 contaminated acres Acheson Ventures purchased
in 1999 for resale as recreation area, housing and
small business properties became in 2001 — after
the company invited community input at more than
50 public meetings and held much discussion with
city officials — the birth of something quite
different.
“Our entire property is known
as Desmond Landing,” Maxwell said of what has
since become an 80-plus-acre, mixed-use residential
and commercial development.
A public market, fishing pier, residential
town homes, botanical gardens, a pavilion, Bridge-to-Bay
Trail, and living wetlands are only a few proposed
additions to or current highlights of Desmond Landing.
Educational, cultural and economic developments are
goals shared by Acheson Ventures and city officials.
Said Maxwell, “It’s a perfect
example of private and public sectors working together,
caring for the waterfront collectively. ”
To read the rest of this article,
turn to page 22 in the May/June 2008 issue of Michigan
BLUE. Lisa M. Jensen is editor of Michigan BLUE.
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