Construction Begins on Harbor West Marina Renovation

With the 2026 boating season in the rearview, the Harbor West Yacht Club has commenced construction on a large-scale renovation and modernization of its marina. According to Ed Sands, a board member for the yacht club, work “got underway last week” on the $8.2 million project, which will replace all the marina’s docks, among other improvements.

The Leelanau Ticker broke the news about the Harbor West project back in August, with Craig Witt, another yacht club board member, explaining that “the original main piers and finger piers” of the marina were all still in place. “Which means we have lumber that’s been sitting in the marina for 70-some years, getting beat up by ice and thaw and everything else,” Witt said.

Harbor West’s history dates back to the 1950s.

“Starting in October, we are going to tear out every single stick of lumber in the marina, and it's all going to be replaced with brand-new floating dock systems,” Witt said. “We’re talking all new infrastructure, all new electrical pedestals, everything you can imagine. It's going to be state of the art.”

The project will also include the replacement the marina’s crumbling west retaining wall, which has borne the brunt of stormwater runoff from M-22 for years.

Construction is now officially underway, with the first floating docks going into the water last week (pictured). Per Sands, the Harbor West board is still optimistic that the project will be fully complete in time for next summer’s boating season.

“We expect to be open by May 1,” he says.

The renovated marina will have the same 158-slip footprint as Harbor West has had in the past. No size or capacity expansions were planned as part of the project.

Notably, when it reopens next spring, the Harbor West marina will no longer have an on-site fueling operation. Historically, the marina’s “gas dock” has been owned by a private vendor and not controlled by the yacht club’s membership or board. When the board voted to move forward with the marina renovation, it also voted to purchase the gas dock.

“That might not mean much to you, but it means a lot to the marina because now we're in charge of those development rights, and we can do what we want there,” Witt said in the summer. “Whether we want to continue selling fuel or not, we haven't made that decision yet, but we're going through that process right now.”

According to Sands, the “final decision” has now been made, with the board voting “to close and no longer operate the fuel dock.”

 “It made no economic sense to operate it after all the required capital expenses,” Sands tells The Ticker.