A plan to move the Minneapolis Sailing Center to the northwest corner of Bde Maka Ska is unlikely after a presentation to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s planning committee revealed the land will be difficult to build on.
“The northwest corner, which we knew pretty well going in, has very difficult soils for construction,” Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board Design Project Manager Daniel Elias said at the board’s March 18 meeting.
The Minneapolis Sailing Center offers classes and camps for people of all sailing abilities, with a mission to “build an inclusive and sustainable community and teach sailing to all.”
The existing Sailing Center at the northeast corner of Bde Maka Ska has no indoor programming space, storm shelter, or administration space to operate from.
The Park Board approved a Bde Maka-Ska-Harriet long-range plan in 2017 that sought to relocate the Sailing Center to the northwest corner of Bde Maka Ska.
An agreement between the board and the Sailing Center from 2023 includes splitting the cost for a new Sailing Center and a proposed design plan was revealed in 2024.
To work around the unfriendly soil, a realignment of Bde Maka Ska Parkway would cost the Sailing Center $5 million and the Park and Recreation Board $10 million, which both the board and Sailing Center agreed was too cost-prohibitive to explore.
Park and Recreation Board staff are proposing to renovate the Sailing Center at its existing location and adding needed amenities there.
Park and Recreation Board President Tom Olson, Planning Committee Chair Jason Garcia, and other commissioners verbalized their support in keeping the Sailing Center where it’s located at the March 18 meeting.
No votes were taken on future Sailing Center plans; the full board will vote on an amended plan in the future.
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