Soon-to-open Detroit beach gets a new name, will have a drinking bar

A new $4 million Detroit beach set to open this fall on the east riverfront will have a play area for kids, a floating bar for adults and be officially named the Robert C. Valade Park.

The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy on Thursday announced the beach's name, which will honor the late Valade, a former president, CEO and chairman of Dearborn-based Carhartt.

The park, located at 2670 Atwater St., had the temporary name of Atwater Beach.

A conservancy spokesman declined to give the size of the Molly and Mark Valade Family Fund's gift toward the beach, citing the family's request for privacy. 

The 3.2-acre park was once the site of cement silos, and later a storage lot for Coast Guard buoys. The beach transformation project got underway in August 2018.

The park will feature a large, sandy beach with chairs and umbrellas, although swimming will not be permitted. 

The park also will have Detroit's only floating bar, in the form of a 120-foot-long barge that will span two boat slips. The seasonal bar will have limited hours and be called Bob's Barge in honor of Robert Valade.

Other park features will include:

• Colorful playground houses, inspired by lifeguard stations, with areas for children to climb, slide and jump.
• A 3,600-square-foot shelter with food service to be called The Shed.
• A children's garden with objects that make sounds.

Once it opens, the beach will complete a series of small parks along the east riverfront that are about a 10-minute walk from each other.

Robert Valade died in 1998 at 71. He started his career with Carhartt in the shipping department, rising through the ranks to become the head of the clothes retailer in 1959, succeeding his father-in-law Wylie Carhatt.

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Under Valade, Carhatt's sales grew from $2 million in 1960 to about $300 million in 1997. He also was awarded the AFL/CIO World Congress Labor/Management Award, which was given to companies without labor disputes for long periods of time.

"My dad loved the city of Detroit and I know he would be proud to have his name associated with a part of this cultural and recreational development on the Detroit River,” Mark Valade said in a statement. “He loved being outdoors on the riverfront and participated in numerous activities — from sailing to power boating to ice skating — and we hope that families across metro Detroit and throughout Michigan get to create as many special memories out here as my father did.”

ContactJC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jcreindl. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.