Fisherman's Marina - Tommy's Boat Livery.....

**Smirnoff** · December-29-11, 06:55 PM

Does anyone have some vintage photos [[1950's or 60's) they can post, it has been many many years since my Grandparents took me there while boating on the Detroit River. I can remember eating the hot french fries & having ice cream there.....

Thanks in advance!

**Gistok** · December-29-11, 10:07 PM

Are you talking about at the foot of Alter Rd., near the former Naval Hospital and riverfront trailer park?

**Lowell** · December-29-11, 11:03 PM

Is this the place?

If so take this tour.

**Lowell** · December-29-11, 11:50 PM

Here is an update from the old DetroitYES forum...

Link

**Gistok** · December-30-11, 03:17 AM

Very sad [[I must have missed that thread)... my late father used to take us kids down there back in the day when both the trailer park and Marine Hospital existed. Dad would often launch his boat nearby, or at the foot of St. Jean. Mom couldn't swim and hated to go along, but dad liked taking us kids... remember taking the boat under the MacArthur [[Belle Isle) Bridge... it's more impressive from the water!

What I never realized was that with the water as shallow as 3 ft. in parts of "Scott Middle Ground", the currents and undercurrents in the river in that area where the water was over 30 ft. deep near the shore, and again between Scott Middle Ground and Belle Isle, the power of those currents must have been enormous...

**izzyindetroit** · December-30-11, 10:05 AM

http://wdwot.com/detail/20/10995

new ownership as of 11-2011

**Gistok** · December-30-11, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by izzyindetroit

http://wdwot.com/detail/20/10995

new ownership as of 11-2011

Wow... even at $69 thousand... I'm impressed... someone willing to spend that kind of money must have some plans for the building... sounds like some good news...

**Smirnoff** · December-30-11, 11:24 AM

First of all - thanks to all who responded with additional information & yes this is the place!

I am very glad to hear the building has been purchased, hopefully it will be revitalized to help restore the area!

I SURE WOULD LIKE TO FIND SOME OLD PHOTOS OF THE BUILDING FROM THE 50'S OR 60'S.....I WILL KEEP HUNTING. MAYBE SOMEBODY CAN REFER ME TO THE NAME OF THE FORMER OWNERS, I AM SURE THEY MUST HAVE SOME VINTAGE PHOTOS.

Thanks in advance!

**Gistok** · December-30-11, 11:50 AM

Smirnoff, I will look to see if there are any pics in my late father's photos... but I doubt it... photography was not a priority for him... boating, fishing and hunting were...

**Smirnoff** · December-30-11, 04:17 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

Smirnoff, I will look to see if there are any pics in my late father's photos... but I doubt it... photography was not a priority for him... boating, fishing and hunting were...

Thanks for looking!

**pgn421** · December-30-11, 04:24 PM

We called on the old trailer park property last week.there is a for sale sign on the property. It's 7 million dollars.that is a 7 acre property.wow!

**canuck** · December-30-11, 04:56 PM

This looks like Bayou St Jean, Louisiana.

**Smirnoff** · January-01-12, 11:16 AM

Originally Posted by pgn421

We called on the old trailer park property last week.there is a for sale sign on the property. It's 7 million dollars.that is a 7 acre property.wow!

It is an excellent piece of waterfront property to develop - not sure it's worth $7M, but who knows?

Attachment 11680

**Gianni** · January-02-12, 11:01 PM

If anyone is a really good researcher or has access to Detroit Free Press [[or News) archives from the 80's, there was a really good article about the trailer park in the Sunday magazine [[I think it was the Free Press, pretty sure it was before the JOA so the News also had a Sunday paper and it might have been either). I remember the writer interviewed several long time residents, including a sea captain's widow and someone who had a grand piano in his trailer. That place was in its day the epitome of Detroit's contrarian beauty -- you could live on the water in a single family detached dwelling, and have a boat, for next to nothing compared to anywhere else in the world. It would be great if someone could find the article and post it here.

**Smirnoff** · January-03-12, 08:06 PM

I located "part" [[I am not a service subscriber) of an article from the Free Press dated August 16, 2002:

Redevelopment Could Bring New Dawn for Decaying Park in Detroit

Aug. 16--No one knows what's going to happen to the 102-trailer lot wedged between a couple of parks on the border of Grosse Pointe Park and Detroit, a timeworn sanctuary that for more than 70 years has occupied one of the city's sweetest pieces of riverfront real estate.
Not the residents, not the city, not the historical preservationists, not the neighborhood redevelopment association, not even the owners.
At least they are not saying.
"You can ask the new owners when a deal is done," Robert Edgar said this week. Edgar is a minority owner of the park and the president and operator of Lakeside Trailer Court Co., which has managed the tucked-away, bucolic slip of real estate since 1949.
About the only thing known for certain is that in June, Edgar sent letters to the residents telling them the company is "undertaking a renovation program that will change the substantive nature of …

**pgn421** · January-04-12, 04:42 PM

I had a trailer there for 5 years 1997-2001. They were still accepting new tenants, up untill, we received eviction letters. I saw surveying companies there taking core samples. Edgar was tight lipped about the future of the park. You couldn't beat the rent, 160.00 a month. Never had any problems.
Now look at it. Nothing has been done. They had plans for upscale condos, with boat docks. Check out the you tube. Search for Belle Harbour. That is the video for the development that never happened.

**izzyindetroit** · January-04-12, 04:51 PM

They [[not sure who they is, assume the city) rebuilt the Alter/Riverside bridge in order to get large construction machinery over the canal.

**michigansheik** · January-04-12, 09:28 PM

so is it phoenix development selling for $7m? if the trailer park was there since 1949 where was the hospital?

**Gistok** · January-04-12, 10:04 PM

The hospital was right next to the Grosse Pointe Park border, so either the eastern tower was on the hospital site, or the entire site was the hospital site and the trailer park site was where there's parkland... but that scenario doesn't make sense, so I'll go back to my first theory.

I do like these towers. But they seem a little out of place so alone along that stretch of the waterfront. They would fit in better along the Gold Coast near the Whittier. Or how about the pair, one on each side of the Belle Isle bridge approach [[one one Uniroyal, one on Richard Park)... sort of a pair of sentinels to the island....

**Smirnoff** · January-05-12, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by pgn421

I had a trailer there for 5 years 1997-2001. They were still accepting new tenants, up untill, we received eviction letters. I saw surveying companies there taking core samples. Edgar was tight lipped about the future of the park. You couldn't beat the rent, 160.00 a month. Never had any problems.
Now look at it. Nothing has been done. They had plans for upscale condos, with boat docks. Check out the you tube. Search for Belle Harbour. That is the video for the development that never happened.

Wow - thanks for posting the Belle Harbor information!

Someone had a great plan & vision for the trailer property, the video was just awesome to say the least. Posted 4 years ago, I am sure the stock market crash of 2008 was a major contributor of the project being scrapped.

If somebody has a valid number of the current real estate company selling the property, could you pass it along. I would like to obtain more information on exactly what happened to the financial backers of the Belle Harbor project.....

**pgn421** · January-05-12, 03:52 PM

Smirnoff-I'm going to the Christmas tree burn, right next to the old trailer park, on Saturday. I will get the phone number off the sign for you.

**Smirnoff** · January-05-12, 08:31 PM

Originally Posted by pgn421

Smirnoff-I'm going to the Christmas tree burn, right next to the old trailer park, on Saturday. I will get the phone number off the sign for you.

Thank you very much!!!

**izzyindetroit** · January-06-12, 12:48 AM

I stepped outside for a smoke and got the number, I can see the sign from my house. He isn't associated with the B.H. developers.

The cell number in the link is the one on the sign.

http://activerain.com/theezterms

**Smirnoff** · May-13-12, 05:25 PM

Anything "new" at the site in regards to new owners......??????

**Smirnoff** · May-16-12, 09:38 AM

For those of you who live near or have driven by recently.....any activity at the site? One of the reasons I ask is several friends want to use the boat ramp to catch some walleyes on the river.....