Plainfield Native's Floating Island Plan Wins Support of Online Backers

A Plainfield native is thinking outside the box with his business plans for Lake Michigan.

Breakwater Chicago — a $23 million floating island with restaurants, a nightclub, wading pool, sundeck, retail shops, a spa and a "Private Island" members club — may sound a bit far fetched, but that hasn't deterred its more than 400 online backers.

Beau D'Arcy, an engineer and Harvard Business School graduate, launched a campaign on crowdfunding site Kickstarter.com to help fund the project. In less than a week, the online fundraiser blew away its initial goal of $30,000. As of early Monday, more than $37,000 had been pledged to help fund the development.

D'Arcy, 33, grew up in Plainfield, attending St. Mary Immaculate School before graduating from Plainfield High School in 1999. He said his parents still live in downtown Plainfield.

An avid boater, D'Arcy said the idea for Breakwater Chicago came from what he saw as a two-part problem.

"As a boater, the frustration is that there is no place to take a boat on [Lake Michigan]," he said. "There's no destination or activity for a boat — I want to create that." 

D'Arcy said there's also a lack of pools in Chicago that don't require a membership. He decided to put the two concepts together.

Breakwater Chicago would provide a destination for boaters, but you don't have to be the seafaring type to enjoy it. For about $20, visitors could take a water taxi out to the floating oasis.

During the winter, Breakwater would be enclosed in a clear dome and anchored near the shore, "providing Chicago with a local escape to a tropical pool environment even when its below freezing outside," its Kickstarter campaign boasts.

In addition to a "tropical" destination for weather-weary Chicagoans, the development would have three restaurants: one selling American fare at mid-tier prices, a seafood restaurant, and a third eatery that will bring the concept of a "pop-up" restaurant to the Breakwater.

"Instead of locking down a menu and a chef and decor ... you set up more of a rotating program," D'Arcy said, explaining that chefs would be invited in to create a short-term menu and decorate the space to suit their theme. "It gives us a chance to hopefully bring in some high-level and celebrity chefs," as well as working with up-and-coming local chefs, D'Arcy said.

While the concept of a floating island may be new to Chicago, it's not entirely uncharted waters.

D'Arcy said he was inspired by a similar development off the coast of Istanbul, Turkey. "It's beautiful — that has become ... a benchmark," he said of Suada Club, which touts itself as "an island between two continents." 

D'Arcy said he's already talked with officials about the process of obtaining permits from the state, City of Chicago and the Coast Guard.

"We've kept all the agencies in the loop," said D'Arcy, who has been working on the project full time for more than two years.

D'Arcy said he's getting mostly positive feedback since going public with his plans last Tuesday. 

"It's been overwhelmingly positive so far," he said, although some have expressed skepticism about Breakwater's timeframe.

If everything goes as planned, D'Arcy said he hopes to start construction after Labor Day weekend, with Breakwater ready to welcome guests by mid-summer of 2015.

The Kickstarter campaign remains open until July 10. Donors get incentives for backing the project, ranging from vouchers for free admittance to Breakwater ($10 donation) to a VIP invitation to an exclusive pre-launch party ($100 donation). Adding a local touch, the site also promises that for each person who donates $50 or more, "one of our founders will call your boss and say that you're sick, so you can spend the day at Breakwater (long live Ferris Bueller)."

Learn more on the Breakwater Chicago Kickstarter page.