Acme Township -
Acme Township is located just Northeast of Traverse City, on East Grand Traverse Bay. It is an area primed for growth. Developers has been working on plans to revitalize & repurpose the
former KMart site - off of US-31. The developer is Bloomfield Hills-based Lormax Stern Development Company - owner of Petoskey's Bay Mall and many other strip-mall type developments throughout Michigan Their specialty seems to be reviving struggling power centers and the like with upgrades and new anchor tenants. They are working with Southfield-based Rogvoy Architects. The plans have evolved several times since the developer's 2019 purchase of the property. Updated plans were reviewed with the township in December 2020. Lormax Stern is seeking township zoning approval of a Planned Development (PD) for a multi-phased project that would accomplish the following:
- Convert the entire existing big box into climate-controlled indoor storage (~ 86,000 SF)
- Develop a new park with connections to the existing TART Trail
- Construct five townhome buildings, 6 units each, of workforce housing in partnership with HomeStretch
- Build two new commercial out buildings, 11,500 SF total
The township seems in favor of the plan, but asked for more detail and a follow-up meeting (likely February 8, 2020), before scheduling a public hearing on the PD (likely in March). The township also noted that the adjacent Tom's Food Market building, which closed in Spring 2019, is being marketed for sale for redevelopment as well.
Site Plan (color added) -
The Former KMart Building -
Exterior Renderings -
A sample indoor storage conversion by the Developer -
Commercial Out Buildings -
Townhomes -
Source:
Acme Township | Lormax Stern
Traverse City -
City Commissioners voted a few weeks ago to support Traverse City Light & Power's application for an $18 million loan from the USDA. If the utility gets the money, it will be allocated towards expanding its existing fiber optic network - which is currently focused just in downtown and a few neighborhoods - throughout its entire coverage area (roughly 13,000 customers). Why this matters? It would afford the utility the capacity to then implement a "smart grid" that would be used to monitor power consumption, distribution, and outages. And, if individual homeowners agreed, it would also allow the utility the ability to remotely reduce their homes' AC on peak energy days, in exchange for lower energy rates (not sure I would feel about that) -