There’s good news for anyone cruising in the Midwest or on the Great Loop. A new five-star transient marina is scheduled to open early in the summer of 2025 on Chicago’s iconic Navy Pier.
The new Navy Pier Marina will be the only all-transient marina in Chicago, and it will have 6,400 liner feet of side-to docking for boats up to 130 feet. There’s no minimum boat size, and you can stay for hourly, daily or weekly docking on a mix of floating and fixed piers.
The marina will have three gangways leading to Navy Pier itself, and it’s within walking distance of downtown Chicago with all its restaurants, shopping and cultural offerings.
“Navy Pier is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the central United States,” said Randy D. Podolsky, manager of the marina. “But the lack of a functioning marina has prevented waterborne tourists from accessing and enjoying what it has to offer.”
The new marina has in-slip pump-outs, restrooms, showers, a lounge and a ship’s store. It also has a bicycle repair station, if you’re carrying one on your boat, and it says it will be pet-friendly.
Chicago’s Navy Pier is a great destination in its own right. Opened in 1916, it housed draft dodgers in the First World War and was a Navy training center in the Second. Now it’s a major entertainment center, with a 196-foot-high Ferris wheel, skating rink, restaurants, a Children’s Museum, and even performances by the resident Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Read more: http://navypiermarina.com
