Navy Pier Marina Begins Construction

Navy Pier Marina commenced construction in anticipation of the 2025 boating season, celebrating with a formal “water breaking” ceremony. Work on the marina will continue throughout the winter for a grand opening next season. 

“The years of hard work, perseverance, and dedication to this project have come to fruition with this major milestone,” says Randy D. Podolsky, developer of Navy Pier Marina. “Believing in a dream and making it a reality makes it all worthwhile to be able to bring recreational boater access to Navy Pier. Navy Pier Marina will offer limited availability to seasonal commercial vessels including fishing, sailing, dive and social charters, boat clubs, cruises, dealers, and other boat-share operations, in addition to prolific transient access via our easy-to-use online reservation system.”

The unique modern mooring facilities include lunch and dinner hourly tie-ups, single and multiple overnight stays and mooring services for up to 183-foot boats with concierge-quality service, power, water hookup, Wi-Fi and pump-out.

J.F. Brennan was selected as the general contractor for the project, which will include a boater amenity building that will house a marina office, ship store, restrooms, shower and a boater’s lounge.

“This is a dream years in the making,” adds Marilynn Gardner, president and CEO of Navy Pier. “Opening up boater access to Chicago’s front porch is not only a tremendous amenity for the local and regional boating community, but also a dynamic opportunity for the 70-plus businesses that call Navy Pier home. I want to extend a personal note of gratitude to our partners at the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Chicago Department of Transportation, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Coast Guard, and the Illinois Office of Tourism for their support throughout this process.”

Learn more at navypiermarina.com.