DETROIT (WXYZ) — The Belle Isle Boat House is home to one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world, training Olympians as well as high schoolers looking for an extra curricular and due to financial strains, it may soon be demolished.
The Belle Isle Boat House is home to the Detroit Boat Club, a club that goes back all the way to 1839. While it has had multiple locations on and off Belle Isle, the current boathouse has been a longstanding staple on the island since 1902.
“There’s been over 500 national champions that have rowed out of this boat house, 19 Olympians — including six silver medalists and three bronze medalists," historian and rower Stephen Malbouef said. "The Detroit Boat Club Crew is the second oldest rowing club in the United States and fourth oldest in the world.”
With its rich history also comes damage that the boat house has been victim to over the years including fires, the collapsing of part of the flooring and a deteriorating exterior.
The boat house is overseen and maintained by the nonprofit Friends of Detroit Rowing under a lease agreement. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources handles the park's overall management, and the DNR says there's just no funds to upkeep the building anymore.
VIDEO: Examining ways to save the Belle Isle Boat House:
"There is no simple fix to this and the building is literally falling apart," Chief of Parks and Recreation with the Michigan DNR Ron Olson said. "The rowing club is a club. It's a nonprofit. It's not a public program and so it's got to fund itself... we can't use government funds to support a nonprofit group."
Olson says the state received $23 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds for Belle Isle, which they allocated toward public Belle Isle buildings like the conservatory and aquarium. The state Legislature approved $2 million of the funds to specifically address the Belle Isle Boat House.
"We only have probably just shy of just a little bit under $2 million that we carved out," Olson said. "Clearly then, we have no pathway for funding whatsoever."
The DNR says $2 million is approximately what it would cost to tear the boat house down, which they are considering.
"We intend to keep the rowing and support that because the docks will still be there and their access to the river," Olson said. "But that's the hard part of this, the legacy of it and trying to balance that off with everything else and still keep the integrity of the park."
The DNR estimates full restoration efforts of the boat house would be upward of $50 million. However, Malbouef believes the price would be much lower.
“Other professionals in the historic field who work with these building for a living, they’ve been in the business for 30 years. Every single one of them I’ve talked to say this is a 15- to 25-million-dollar project and $25 million seems ridiculous to them," he said. "To quickly jump to demolition is just insane to me.”
Malbouef also believes the damage to the building is being inflated by the state for its quick removal and says the history is too rich to rush a decision on demolition.
“It needs work, but it’s not in as bad of shape as what it’s been made out to be. It’s very strong bones," he said.
The DNR was officially accepting proposals for renovation efforts from private and public entities until the spring but have extended that to the end of July. If there is no proposal that would cover restoration, the only option left for the DNR would be to tear the building down.
The $2 million must be allocated by end of 2024 and spent by end of 2026, and the deadline is fast approaching.
"We are willing to consider and listen," Olson said.
A petition has been started to save the boat house from demolition.
