DeVos affiliate to rebuild Holland-area staple Ottawa Beach General Store

DeVos affiliate to rebuild Holland-area staple Ottawa Beach General Store
Drawings for the renovated Ottawa Beach General Store near Holland that’s expected to be completed by the 2024 season.

PARK TWP. — The owners of the Ottawa Beach General Store, a community staple along Lake Macatawa near Holland State Park, plan to rebuild the facility and maintain its vintage design in time for the 2024 season.

Building owners Cheri DeVos Ehmann and Steve Ehmann announced that the renovation project will commence after this year’s season, which spans late spring to late summer.

An entity affiliated with the DeVos family office, RDV Corp., acquired the property through foreclosure in 2010 for $210,000, according to township property records.

“After several decades serving the Lakeshore community, the Ottawa Beach General Store has reached an age where the building’s foundation is at the end of its lifespan,” DeVos Ehmann and Ehmann said in a statement. “At the end of this season, the store will be rebuilt in a way that mimics the current structure in almost every way, opening its doors again for the 2024 season.”

Ada-based Dixon Architecture is designing the renovation, which will maintain the 85-year-old building’s theme and layout with modern materials. Owner Ken Dixon said the design firm is “very sensitive” to recreating the store to remain consistent to the original design.

“The new store will resemble the current one down to the same paint color, roofline and number of ice cream ordering windows,” Dixon said in a statement.

Built in 1938, the nearly 2,400-square-foot Ottawa Beach General Store, located at 2256 Ottawa Beach Road, is a popular spot for beachgoers and other visitors for ice cream, beverages and souvenirs. The redevelopment is still subject to Park Township approval, according to an announcement.

THGS LLC acquired the property in 2010 from Commerce Bank, which bought the property from Ottawa County through foreclosure earlier that year.