The stretch of the Boardman between Union and Cass is only one block long. On the Union Street end, a 400-foot fish-sorting channel stands where the old dam used to be. On the Cass Street end, Lot B is fenced off while a pavilion goes up. The 100-block alley sits between them, with a concrete wall holding the riverbank on timber piles driven in 1931.
All three are the same riverfront, but each is on its own schedule. Both ends now have finish dates in 2027. The middle has a design and a cost estimate, but no construction date.
The West End Is Almost Done
FishPass is the $30 million project that replaces the Union Street Dam with an experimental fish-sorting channel and a research facility. According to The Ticker's August update, the in-water work was set to wrap up once crews pulled the temporary sheet pile by the end of September. The city reports that the channel itself is substantially complete, including the headworks, the channel walls and all 13 water control gates.
This winter the work moves onto dry land. Crews will build the research building on the north side of the river, put in the landscaping and park improvements, and install a new pedestrian bridge. The planting plan calls for an estimated 73 native trees, 371 native shrubs and nearly 2,100 live stakes along the shoreline to stabilize the banks. Some tree removal is also planned for this fall near Central United Methodist Church to make room for accessibility improvements.
The April flooding was expected to put the project behind. It didn't. Great Lakes Fishery Commission spokesperson Leah McCallum told The Ticker the crews had made up the time:
"We're completely caught up to where we would have been if the flood didn't happen. That's because of our local crews, Spence Brothers and Team Elmer's, who treated the site like their own and worked overtime and caught us up."
Completion is targeted for late spring or early summer of 2027. A commissioning phase follows, when the sorting channel and other parts of the site are tested, and recreational access to the Boardman is expected to reopen sometime next summer. Until then, the city's posted FishPass access notice keeps the south shoreline and riverwalk features between Cass and Union closed. The north-side riverwalk and the stairs near the Union Street Bridge stay open.
The East End Has a Spring Date Too
Down at Cass Street and Grandview Parkway, Lot B is closed while the new pavilion for the Sara Hardy Downtown Farmers Market goes up. The city's October 2026 Bay Brief lists the job as a pavilion, parking lot, drainage, stormwater and landscaping project, with completion expected in spring 2027.
The original goal was to start right after the National Cherry Festival. Materials delays pushed groundbreaking to a July 27 target, and DDA Executive Director Harry Burkholder told the board that finishing this fall was no longer likely. Team Elmer's is the contractor, and the city is rebuilding Lot B and its stormwater system as part of the same job. The market moved to Rotary Square for the rest of the 2026 season.
Rotary Square has its own plans. In July the DDA said it was preparing bid documents for improvements there, to be released this fall. It was also working with the city and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission on a connection through the alley to FishPass, with an overlook on the north side of the river. Erosion on the north bank after the April flood means that overlook will likely need to move several feet back.
So by next summer, the plan is for a finished FishPass park on one end and a new market pavilion on the other. Here is how all four pieces stand right now:
| Project | Location | Where it stands | Next milestone |
|---|---|---|---|
| FishPass | Former Union Street Dam | In-water work wrapping up; upland work through winter | Late spring or early summer 2027 |
| Farmers market pavilion | Lot B, Cass and Grandview Parkway | Under construction; lot closed | Spring 2027 |
| River retaining wall | 100-block Front Street alley | Rated "serious"; repair options before the City Commission | Permanent fix anticipated about two years out, as of September |
| Riverwalk redesign | J. Smith Walkway, alley and bridge | Schematic design approved; construction documents next | No construction date; funding open |
The Middle Block Is Where the Riverbank Is Failing
The wall behind the 100 block of Front Street is a cantilevered reinforced concrete wall sitting on timber piles from 1931. The Ticker's September report describes a problem the city has known about for years. The city had already moved a sewer trunkline away from the wall into the middle of the alley over fears it could fail. That turned out to be a good call when a major sinkhole opened during the April flooding and exposed the abandoned line.
Crews fixed that sinkhole. Then new sinkholes showed up just west of the repair in August. Consultant Wade Trim did field and underwater inspections and found the wall "severely deteriorated and unstable," with "extensive scour and undermining of the footing." On a five-step scale of excellent, good, fair, serious and critical, the wall rated serious.
City Engineer Anne Pagano laid out a two-part fix. A short-term repair, likely similar to the April patch where lightweight concrete was placed behind the wall to slow erosion, is estimated at $252,000 plus engineering. A long-term fix using sheet piling and bank naturalization is estimated at $2.1 million in today's dollars, not counting design. Pagano said permanent stabilization was "currently anticipated to be approximately two years before construction." City commissioners took up the inspection report at their October 12 study session.
The two-year horizon is the key difference from the ends of the block. FishPass and the pavilion each have a crew working toward a single 2027 finish. The 100-block alley has a patch to protect the wall while a permanent fix is designed.
The Plan for the Middle Was Built to Wait
The DDA already has a design for this block. In January its board approved INFORM Studio's schematic design for a proposed $5.7 million rebuild of the riverwalk area. The design includes a remodeled J. Smith Walkway, new pedestrian amenities in the alley and the adjacent parking lot, and a new pedestrian bridge to the farmers market lot to replace the current one, which is deteriorating and near the end of its usual lifespan. The work traces back to at least 2018 and the DDA's Lower Boardman River Unified Plan.
The design was drawn to work either way the city handles the wall, whether that means armoring the existing wall or moving it several feet back. In July the board directed staff to request proposals for construction documents, the final design step that makes a project shovel-ready. As The Ticker reported, board member Pete Kirkwood said, "I think every step we don't take now is a step we risk never taking."
Other money could fold into the same block. The DDA holds a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in partnership with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, for in-stream habitat work along the Boardman, and the 100-block alley is one of its focus areas. Pagano wrote that coordinating the wall, the riverwalk and the habitat work during design would "minimize potential conflicts during construction" and improve the river edge.
Where the November 3 Ballot Fits
The construction money is still undecided, and that connects the middle block to the November 3 election. City voters will see Proposal 1, the Infrastructure First TIF Plan. The current TIF 97 plan ends in 2027. The proposal would amend and extend it for 20 years, from January 1, 2028, through December 31, 2047. It would also change the split. TIF 97 captures 100% of the applicable tax increment, while the new plan would capture 70% and send 30% to participating taxing jurisdictions. The city's Infrastructure First TIF Plan page states that TIF is not an additional tax or millage.
The proposed plan lists phased Boardman-Ottaway river improvements as eligible work, covering pedestrian bridges, boardwalks, river access, shoreline and habitat, and stormwater. It also includes a commitment to maintain the Farmers Market and Rotary Square. The city notes that being listed does not mean a project will be built or that funding has been authorized.
For the 100-block riverwalk, Burkholder told The Ticker that if the plan is rejected, existing TIF 97 funds could still complete the construction drawings. Construction would then need funding from the city, grants or other sources. The city describes its own role in the election as strictly neutral and factual. Its Bay Brief series is the most direct place to read the proposal in full. This summary is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Questions about your own situation belong with the right professional.
Using the Riverfront Between Now and Next Summer
These are the next dates on the Downtown Traverse City events calendar:
- Saturday, October 31, 10 to 11:30 a.m. The Downtown Halloween Walk, with trick-or-treating and family activities.
- Saturday, November 7. Shop Your Community Day.
- Friday, November 20, 4 to 6:30 p.m. The tree lighting. Santa's House opens the same day and runs Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through December 24.
- Saturday, November 21, 6 to 8 p.m. The light parade.
On a walk to any of these, the north-side riverwalk and the stairs by the Union Street Bridge are the open way along the water. From there you can watch FishPass's landscaping go in over the winter.
Hillary loves seeing how a block's next chapter changes the way people use the streets and homes around it. If you're thinking about where you want to land downtown, or how a property near the Boardman fits into what's coming, Found Realty Co can walk the river with you and talk it through. Find Happiness at Home. Schedule a personalized consultation.
