CINCINNATI — Cincinnati’s riverfront boat dock is treading water as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awaits engineering details that were requested more than a year ago.
A permit application for the “Reef Marina” project was “administratively withdrawn” by the agency’s Louisville District in September because project consultants had not submitted “final engineer-stamped construction plans and important details and specifications,” spokeswoman Abby Korfhage said in an email to the WCPO 9 I-Team.
The Army Corps requested those details on July 2, 2024, and had not “received the plans or any further information” from H. Hafner & Sons Inc., the Park Board's boat-dock partner, through July 10 of this year, Korfhage added.
WATCH: Looking into another setback in Cincinnati's quest for a riverfront boat marina
Spokespersons for the Park Board and Hafner said the delay is temporary and the project is on track for a Spring 2026 groundbreaking.
But the “Reef Marina” project is already well past the 2024 completion goal established by the Park Board in 2023.
It’s among 37 projects listed in the Park Board’s three-year park improvements plan. But it’s classified as being in the planning stage and hasn’t been mentioned in the board’s meeting minutes since last August.
In addition, Park Board spokesman Rocky Merz said Hafner has been working without a contract since winning a 2021 bidding competition for the right to build and operate the boat dock and restaurant near Great American Ball Park.
“Hafner must work through developing the specific engineering and architectural details and designs of what they are building, costs, and how it will operate,” Merz wrote in a July 11 email to the WCPO 9 I-Team. “That is what they are doing now. We want to be sure to give our partner the time they need to develop the right project to be successful in the long term, and we are confident they will. Once their work is complete, a contract can be negotiated and signed with the City, the permits can be obtained, and the project will move into the construction phase.”
The I-Team began looking into boat-dock delays in May, after Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval suggested the marina was already under construction in an interview with I-Team Reporter Paula Christian.
“The city right now, in collaboration with the Park Board, is building a marina just to the south of Great American Ball Park,” Pureval said, in the far-ranging interview about the city and county’s plans for The Banks project. “The more that we can activate that river for tourism, but also for our local events, I think the better Cincinnati will be.”
A riverfront boat dock has been a dream of city officials since 2015, when Cincinnati landed a $1.5 million federal grant through the Ohio Division of Natural Resources. That led to a $3.6 million boat dock design that was scrapped when estimated costs rose to $5 million.
By 2019, the federal grant was in danger of expiring. So, the Park Board launched a new effort to revive the project. That led to an unsolicited offer by Queen City Riverboats to build and operate the dock in exchange for city funds set aside for the project.
When critics complained about Queen City’s financial terms and other aspects of the deal, the Park Board launched another bidding competition, which led to Hafner’s selection in December 2021.
The Park Board’s waterfront, planning and finance staff said the Hafner proposal would cost the city up to $2.2 million but generate up to $143,000 in shared revenue for the city from mooring fees and restaurant sales. The Queen City Riverboats proposal would cost $1.7 million and return $32,000 to the city annually, according to Park Board staff.
Before the Park Board vote, Queen City Riverboats questioned Hafner’s qualifications and complained about the city’s bidding process.
“QCR has the experience to make informed and conservative representations of potential revenue streams,” it said in an 18-page addendum to its original bid. “The low-cost bidder seldom has this ability. It is usually just telling people what they want to hear.”
Hafner encountered its first delay when the Army Corps informed the city in 2022 that it would have to request a new permit for the project. The permit application was filed on February 28, 2023.
In March 2023, Parks Director Jason Barron told the Park Board that “cost increases” would have to be addressed before a final contract would be negotiated with Hafner.
In May 2023, Hafner released a new design that included a rooftop deck on its floating restaurant. CEO Justin Cooper said he expected the Army Corps to issue a permit in June and added the dock was “highly likely” to be built.
“I’m too far in now to stop,” he said.
But the Army Corps wasn’t done asking questions about the project’s impact on the navigable waterways of the Ohio River, a process that can require separate evaluations of a project’s impact on the environment and endangered species like Ohio River mussels.
In August 2024, the parks director told his board the marina project had cleared those early hurdles.
“They got into a holding pattern where it didn’t make sense to spend money on plans until they knew they were going to get past that initial phase of, ‘We’re allowed to move forward,’” Barron said. “So, they’re now ramping up the planning phase of that. We should be hearing more from them over the next several months.”
Park Board President Molly North urged Barron to “push on the components that move this project ahead,” despite its unknowns.
“It’s important for us to be able to answer the question, ‘When are we going to have a marina?’” North said. “As commissioners, we get asked this question. Perennially, we cannot answer the question. We’re accountable for that.”
Barron agreed: “I’m accountable for it too, and I wish I had more answers for you, but I don’t. But I think it’s important for me to hear that from you and for me to communicate that to our partner.”
One month after that conversation, the Army Corps suspended its permit review, pending the receipt of additional details from Hafner. Park Board meeting minutes show Barron didn’t mention that delay or anything else about the project since then.
The Park Board and Hafner have declined requests for interviews, issuing statements instead.
“USACE (Louisville District) is currently awaiting completion of final anchorage design plans which are being prepared. Once those plans are received by USACE, the Reef Marina application will be reassigned to ‘active’ status as the application proceeds through final review,” wrote Ralph Hirshberg, a Civil & Environmental Consultants Inc. principal who is working on the project with Hafner.
Hirschberg didn’t say when the plans will be sent to the Army Corps, but public relations consultant Colleen Reynolds texted that Hafner is “still aiming to start construction in spring of ‘26.”
Park Board spokesman Rocky Merz said no construction date has been set, but the project is still moving forward.
“A marina along our riverfront will offer an amazing new amenity, allowing visitors to experience our riverfront, and all downtown Cincinnati has to offer, in a whole new and engaging way,” Merz wrote. “The project will include boat docking for 42 boats plus two public safety vessels, a bar and restaurant, and will be located on the eastern edge of the Public Landing.”
