Jacobs backs out of marina project
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Genmar Holdings Inc. Chairman Irwin Jacobs has backed out of a Mississippi River marina development project after learning that the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board could not work exclusively with him, the Star Tribune reported in an article today.
“We just decided it wasn’t for us,” he told the newspaper. “It’s typical of the world we live in. You get the politicians into it and you see what happens.”
Jacobs had originally offered to have the marina built with no cost to the city, according to the newspaper, but then he was informed that the board had to consider other bids as well.
“It looked like it was going down that political road,” Jacobs told the paper, “and that was distasteful to me.”
While the board’s new superintendent and president, Jon Olson, said Jacobs could have built “a great marina” and the withdrawal of his bid was “a source a disappointment,” he commented that “ … there is a certain way to do things.”
In the meantime, the marina project is being put on hold while the board attempts to secure funding and puts together a plan that addresses such issues as location, public access and size, the newspaper reported.
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