Harbor Shores Development

By H-P STAFF 

BENTON HARBOR — The International Economic Development Council honored Harbor Shores with two awards this week, the Cornerstone Alliance reported.

The IEDC presented developers with its top award for Public-Private Partnerships and an honorable mention award in the Real Estate Redevelopment and Reuse Program on Tuesday at the IEDC’s annual conference in Reno, Nev. Both awards were in the category for organizations serving areas with populations under 50,000.

Wendy Dant Chesser, president of Cornerstone and a trustee for Harbor Shores Community Redevelopment, was at the event and accepted the awards on behalf of Harbor Shores.

“As an international organization, the IEDC received over 460 applications for 28 award categories,” Chesser said in a news release. “For the Harbor Shores project to stand out enough to receive such an honor is a true testament to the project and all of the partners working to make it a reality.”

The project is a 530-acre golf, residential and resort development that spans portions of Benton Harbor, Benton Township and St. Joseph. A large portion of the project is being built on formerly contaminated industrial land. Total project construction will span approximately 10 years, and is expected to be complete by 2020.

The development is expected to stimulate more than $400 million worth of total development and investment, the news release said.

Cornerstone and two other nonprofit corporations, Whirlpool Foundation and Consortium for Community Development, have taken the lead on the Harbor Shores project.