The “aspirational” effort to bring a hotel-and-conferene center to Macomb County’s lakeside shoreline could heighten in the near future with a market study to be completed soon.

Related efforts are featured in the recently approved five-year county Parks and Natural Resources Master Plan.

Deputy County Executive John Paul Rea and Kelley Lovati, president and CEO of the Macomb County Chamber of Commerce, talked about recent efforts to eventually locating such a facility in the county in the coming year. A $50,000 study by Jones Lang LaSalle commissioned by a group of entities should be available within the next six months.

Attracting such a facility to help spur the county’s Blue Water Economy has been informally discussed for years and progressed last year to the point that the chamber, the county, Visit Detroit, and the waterfront communities of Harrison Township and St. Clair Shores chipped in for the study and to develop a strategic plan off of it.

“Not too many areas have 30-plus miles of coastline like we do, and we’ve seen that other communities across the state of Michigan have leveraged their fresh-water advantage to bring in significant economic development projects,” Rea said. “It’s a major aspiration we have but there are a number of steps — whether it’s in real estate or project management — for a multi-million dollar development to come here. We have to make sure everyone is aligned.

“The question is, what would it look like? A lot of that is being flushed out in planning.”

County Executive Mark Hackel created the Blue Water Initiative in 2012 and in 2023 the Lake St. Clair Coastal Study that established a base line of assets and quality-of-life amenities within a 12.1-square-mile area along the lakeshore. Following that was the 2024 formation of the Blue Water Task Force and the entities joining to create a feasibility or market study.

Lovati said she believes the county can attract more groups and individuals to take advantage of the recreational boating and fishing — notably bass fishing — offered by Lake St. Clair, but the county is held back by “a lack of hotel accommodations along the waterfront,” Lovati said.

“We have hotels, but on the water we have no nice hotels,” she said. “We have a lot of waterfront activities, marinas, restaurants but no places to stay. If we can bring people here, have them be able to stay on the water, enjoy activities on the water, that would be great for tourism in Macomb County.”

The study will analyze the “viability (of the hotel-conference center), the current stock of hotels and their usage rate,” she said.

They’ve also interviewed “stakeholders” in the communities, she added.

Lovati said she has first-hand experience interacting with people who seek to hold an event here but don’t due to the lack of a hotel-and-conference center.

“They identified what we call lost revenue, people who wanted to have big events here but there were no hotel accommodations,” Lovati said. “Sometimes what people do is, when they come use some of our facilities, they’ll ship people out to Detroit or Oakland County for a nice hotel. Being with the chamber, I get calls like that every year from people looking to bring conventions here but they want the whole thing — the hotel and the convention center.”

Locating an indoor waterpark and walkable pier in the county are two of the goals of the 2025 county Parks and Natural Resources Master Plan, a 104-page document that was completed by the county Planning and Economic Planning Department and approved in January by the county Board of Commissioners.

A feasibility study of a hotel-conference center was a goal off the Master Plan five years ago but was removed because it has been accomplished, said Gerry Santoro of the county Planning and Economic Planning Department.

For the hotel-and-conference center, the study is expected to identify “a couple” of potential locations in St. Clair Shores and one in Harrison Township, Lovati said.

The exact potential sites for a development have not been revealed, but one of them could be the 11-acre site of the Mount Clemens Water Treatment Plant in Harrison Township.

The water plant, located east off Jefferson Avenue near Crocker Boulevard, is going to be shut down over the next two to three years as the city of Mount Clemens prepares to convert from its own water use to the Great Lakes Water Authority system.

The parcel has nearly 500 feet of lakeshore frontage, which would be enough space to construct a walkable pier, Santoro said.

The site actually contained a pier in the early 1900s, possibly dating back to the late 1800s, for ships to drop off and pick up passengers visiting Mount Clemens’ mineral baths, a major attraction at the time.

Santoro said redeveloping the parcel could take a few years it would have to be “cleaned up” likely through a Brownfield Redevelopment.

The site would be easily accessible to tourists unfamiliar with the area due to the proximity to Interstate 94 and the direct route on Metropolitan Parkway and Crocker Boulevard, Lovati said.

While locating a hotel and conference center to the waterfront is a top priority, Rea noted that other areas of the waterfront, other waterways and green space in the county also remain a top priority, as indicated by the Master Plan.

The county helps local communities and businesses provide multiple opportunities for recreation for visitors and residents, and officials want “connectivity and vibrancy.”

“We want to provide individuals with multiple avenues of access to our parks and natural resources and ensure there are other rich amenities for the business community and local communities to bring to the table,” he said.

Rea tweaked the Blue Economy reference when he said “the blue-green economy,” including the greenspace along the Clinton River and its tributaries are economic drivers as well.

The county has helped facilitate governmental units — such as Macomb and Clinton townships and the Huron Clinton Metropark Authority — to increase the amount of greenspace they own along the river and tributaries, notably the North Branch. Gaining ownership allows increased public access to waterways and the waterfront, the plan says.

The Clinton River, which two decades ago was considered too debris-filled for people to enjoy traversing, now is popular site for kayakers and canoeists who can rent a watercraft from two companies along the river.

The Master Plan suggests the county pursue one attraction it doesn’t have that every other county in the state does have — a campground.

“Having a more permanent presence in that space could be one of those building blocks as far as ensuring the recreation and tourism industry continues to grow here in the county,” Rea said.

John Lindley, president and CEO of the Michigan Association of Recreational Vehicles and Campgrounds, said he could not explain why Macomb does not have a campground while 82 other counties do but pointed out establishing a campground has obstacles — it can be difficult to gain approval from a local community — and it is costly.

He said he cannot comment on the county’s situation, but added in general communities have wrongly-conceived ideas about campgrounds.

“Broadly speaking, today more often than not, local units of government … are not particularly receptive to new campground developments. They unfortunately, and I believe inaccurately, view campgrounds as having transient type traffic they don’t want. They’d rather use that land for permanent commercial business or housing, things that in their mind are tax-based generating. Frankly, I think that is inaccurate and short-sighted.”

He said campground-goers “are great stewards of the land” and benefit the local economy as they shop, dine out and “take part in tourist attractions.”

It also can be expensive because electrical and water access are expected at campgrounds, and some also provide sewer hookups, he said.

“You’re also going to need a shower house, a pavilion, firepits, those sorts of things,” he said, pointing out camping is extremely popular in Michigan, as exhibited by its 1,300 campgrounds. Michigan residents each year typically purchase the fourth or fifth most recreational vehicles of states in the nation, he said.

“We outkick our coverage when it comes to RVs and camping,” Lindley said. “So much of it is because of the Great lakes and natural resources that we have to offer. From the western U.P. all the way down to the very southwest and southeast corners off the state we’ve got beautiful natural resources. People love it. It’s part of who we are.”

The Master Plan also calls for a recreation millage in the county to help fund improvements. Macomb County is the one of the seven county members of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments that does not levy such a millage.

It also lists as goals the creation of a 10K running trail and a continued effort to bring a Detroit Zoo nature center here.

Of the plan’s other short-term and long-term goals, one is to fill in the gaps of the extensive motorized path network that has been created over the past 15 to 20 years.

“Though the county has invested significant money and resources into the current pathway system there are still gaps in the network, meaning areas that need access or improvement in order to be a more functional system and to encourage additional usage and ridership,” the plan says.

The existing trail network consists of a “combination of detached and attached sidewalks, along with independent shared use paths,” the plan says. “The southern portion of the county has fewer gaps and a denser layering of facilities, while the northern more rural portion of the county is mostly serviced through independent and limited roadside shared use paths.”

Here is a summary of the existing trail network, according to the Master Plan:

Macomb Orchard Trail — A 24 mile linear trail system that starts at 24 Mile Road and Dequindre in Shelby Township and travels northeast to Richmond.

Stony Creek Huron-Clinton Metropark — It is 6.1 miles of paved trails and 14 miles of unpaved mountain-biking and hiking trails.

The Freedom Trail — It begins in Sterling Heights at Freedom Hill County Park and heads east for about 10 miles through Clinton and Harrison townships, ending at Lake St. Clair Metropark.

Lake St. Clair Metropark Trail — It includes three miles of a paved hiking and biking pathway with “panoramic views “of Lake St. Clair Metropark and 1.5 miles of flat nature trails.

The Clinton River Trail — It “runs primarily along the Clinton River and showcases some of Macomb County’s true natural beauty.” It goes through Sterling Heights, Utica, Shelby Township, and ends at the Macomb Orchard Trail. Portions of this trail are also part of the state-wide Iron Belle Trail.

Iron Belle Trail — The plan addresses a “critical gap in the bicycle route” in Warren, Center Line and Sterling Heights as the route transverses one of the most highly developed and densely populated areas of the state. The proposed route has been divided into seven segments.”