For many Bay Area cities, a downtown waterfront can be a source of vitality, but the city of Martinez is still waiting for its ship to come in.  

On Wednesday evening, the public was eager to get a look at a redevelopment proposal for its marina that had some people excited and others skeptical.

On its own website, the city of Martinez refers to itself as the "Bay Area's Hidden Gem."  But what may be most hidden is the reason anyone would go there. Now, the people are getting their hopes raised, once again, that that may be changing.

"All of our businesses want to thrive, and the best way that they can thrive is if they have people here to see what they have to offer," said Martinez Chamber of Commerce President Aaron Alencastre.

Martinez seems to have everything it needs to be a thriving destination for visitors.  It's quaint downtown features historic buildings with small restaurants and antique shops. And then there's the waterfront, with a large park and marina that many cities would love to have.  

But it remains ghostly quiet, and the facilities have fallen into disrepair. Alencastre thinks he knows why.

"Martinez lacks an attractor," he said. "You know, there's not something here that really drives people to come across the bridge and look at the marina and say, 'hey, what's that over there?'  We've lacked that. And I think this project gives us the opportunity to see something like that happen. To give people a reason to seek out Martinez."

The "project" he was talking about was a big secret, about to be revealed.  At 7 o'clock, Tucker Sadler, an architectural company out of San Diego, was scheduled to present its proposal to revitalize the waterfront area.  

As the head of a city with no money of its own to spend, Mayor Brianne Zorn was clearly excited by the prospect.

"Most of the reason why Martinez is quiet is we have not had organizations like Tucker Sadler look to Martinez and say, I would like to invest here," she said. "And it's a really wonderful opportunity so see somebody with as much experience as they have in other places in the country, looking at Martinez and saying, 'yes, this is where I would like to invest our development dollars.'"

No details or renderings were being released before the meeting, but Zorn said the new development would probably be anchored by at least one hotel.  And when she imagines what could be coming, her thoughts go to the similar-sized city of Edmonds, Washington.

"They have a beautiful boutique downtown, they have a beautiful waterfront, lots of recreation and they have a ferry," she said.

That would be important because, so far, Martinez hasn't qualified to be a stop for Bay Area ferry service.

"There's a lot of opportunity for it," Zorn said. "We're very well situated. But, again, without the people there, it doesn't meet the threshold."

People are what's important in any city, and downtown businesses like the Antique Corner could use a lot more foot traffic.

"Foot traffic is like 90 percent of our business," said owner Ray Jensen.  "When it's dead here, it's dead all day. And when we have people, it flourishes."

Wendy Therrian is one of the vendors in the antique collective. She said she has high hopes for what a reimagined waterfront could mean. But she also understands why, after years of promises, some are keeping a wait-and-see attitude.

"I think that there's a certain feeling that there's been an expectation and it hasn't been delivered within the time frame that folks expected," said Therrian. "But I really firmly believe, it's 2025, right. So, there's going to be something and they're going to unveil it.  I have to feel positive about it. It's going to be great, I think."

The proposal is still in its earliest stages.  

The city will have to decide whether or not to enter into an Exclusive Negotiation Agreement (ENA) with Tucker Sadler, but clearly there is excitement about the project. The waterfront is Martinez's own hidden gem.  

They hope that the evening's long-awaited reveal will eventually transform a diamond-in-the-rough into something that can really sparkle.

• Martinez