NORTHERN MICHIGAN | General Developments

[DetroitMan]

I didn't realize that Cherry Capital Airport was this busy, I would have thought Bishop Int'l still would have been the 3rd busiest airport in the state.


Michigan’s third-busiest airport to scale up as business travelers drive record numbers

As TVC grows from its current six gates to 10 or 11, the airport could position itself as a driving force in the community’s economy, business and tourism industry, airport officials say.

“(Airport growth creates) a lot more opportunities for folks to come and see this area, see this region, not only to visit, but there’s a big push for people that can come here and actually live here, move here and bring their businesses here,” said airport Chief Financial Officer Mark Bishop. “I see that continuing to happen as we go forward, especially as we continue to grow. So it’s exciting to be part of that opportunity to grow your community.”

TVC was the third-busiest Michigan airport last year following Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) outside Grand Rapids with 3,794,915 passengers and the Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW), the largest airport in the state, with 31,453,486 passengers.

TVC serves about twice as many passengers as it did a decade ago. In 2014, the airport had about 350,000 total passengers while nine years later in 2023 TVC saw its best year yet with 700,699 passengers.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/transp...ajor-expansion

[deja vu]

^ I was surprised to learn that too. But I can believe it. TC, Grand Traverse County, and that whole region in general is booming right now. Even though the city proper boasts a modest population of around 16,000, the Traverse City metro population is around 160,000, and that number swells in the summer tourist months (according to Google, the region's summer population increases 78%, most of that with overnight visitors, so you start to approach 300,000 people milling about the general vicinity). Most people drive there for work or for fun, but there is enough wealth flowing through the area that I'm sure both private and commercial flights are an attractive option for business and pleasure.

Here's another TC project that is wrapping up -

The new TC Senior Center has been in the works since before the pandemic. Situated at 801 E Front Street (right along the waterfront on the west bay, on the same site as the current senior center), it is scheduled to open in early 2025 -

After Years-Long Wait, New Senior Center Set to Open February 3
Beth Milligan | The Ticker
December 20, 2024

Following years of planning, fundraising, and design and engineering work, the new Traverse City Senior Center is set to open its doors February 3. Construction of the $10 million waterfront facility on East Front Street – which broke ground 15 months ago – is almost complete, with a certificate of occupancy expected next week. Leaders say they’re excited for the expanded opportunities the property will offer both area seniors and the public as a city park...

These are older renderings and plans, but they generally convey the project intent -










Source: Grand Traverse County | Environment Architects

[deja vu]

Garfield Township -

Cherryland Center (location) is finding new life in some unique ways. Originally opened in 1976, it was the first modern indoor shopping mall in northern Michigan. It boasted about 40 stores and was a very popular destination in its first few decades of operation. When the nearby Grand Traverse Mall opened in 1992, it drew a lot of business away from Cherryland Mall. It was eventually rebranded as Cherryland Center and it was converted to more of a strip mall / power-center type development, but business started to dwindle for many of the usual reasons (online shopping, over-saturation, competition from other malls & big box stores, etc.). As recently as 2015, the "mall" was still anchored by four major (though ill-fated) chains - KMart, Younkers, Sears, and Big Lots. Three of the four are now gone, and the last remaining anchor - Big Lots - has a pretty uncertain future. The fate of the mall seemed destined to follow that of countless others around the country.

All that is pretext to today, where the mall now features some pretty unique tenants including: Traverse City Philharmonic, Traverse City Curling Club, K1 Speed (indoor Go Kart racing), several drive-thru coffee shops, TC Man Cave (a men's hair salon), a mexican restaurant, and live theatre perfromance space (Mashup Rock & Roll Musical). Planning commissioners also recently approved an updated comprehensive development plan to help guide parking, signage, stormwater management, and access drives, as the site continues to be developed. Soon to join the list of tenants could be Two Brothers Dog Park Cafe and Taphouse, set to begin construction next month in a portion of the former Younkers department store -

Dog Park, Mall Plan Approved for Cherryland Center
By Beth Milligan | The Ticker
December 13, 2024

Source: The Ticker

[Velvet_Highground]

Potentially the best mall retooling project in the state.

[deja vu]

Originally Posted by Velvet_Highground

Potentially the best mall retooling project in the state.

^ yes if this mall succeeds, it could be a good precedent for other such properties in the region.

East Bay Township -

News today about a residential development planned for the site of the former Calypso Mediterranean Grill (1500 US-31). If approved, 13 three-story condos will be built -

Residential Development Proposed for Calypso Restaurant Site
By Beth Milligan | The Ticker
January 7, 2025

Source: The Ticker

Several surrounding parcels have also been up for consideration of redevelopment to residential units, guided by the township's recent East Bay Beach District visioning plan for the US-31 corridor, which aims to create a cohesive identity for this stretch of heavily-trafficked US-31 corridor -

East Bay Unveils Beach District Plan
Beth Milligan | The Ticker
October 30, 2024

Source: The Ticker

[deja vu]

Pentland Township -

Just south of Newberry, contractors are wrapping up the DNR's new Customer Service Center at 5801-5893 Newberry Ave. This sharp-looking (and high-performance) structure is the state's first-ever application of Michigan Red Pine for mass timber construction -












Source: LinkedIn | Anna Anderson (Lord Aeck Sargent)

[DetroitMan]

Manistee-
Housing, hotel highlight $90M downtown redevelopment in Northern Michigan

A $90 million redevelopment, highlighted by housing and a hotel, is set to break ground this year in Manistee. The two-phase project also includes a parking deck, retail spaces, a restaurant, an event center and a heritage center. Completion is estimated for 2029.

“It’s basically making sure that a very crucial point of the downtown is utilized and functional,” said Bill Gambill, Manistee city manager. “We’re eager and excited to have it developed.” The site at the main entrance to the downtown has already been cleared. With construction originally scheduled to begin in 2021, it has sat flat and empty for years. Initial plans for a hotel and other businesses – but no housing – were scrapped in 2023 and developers went back to the drawing board, promising construction in 2025.

Little River Holdings, the development arm of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, is making good on that promise.

“The overall idea and goal of this project is to increase economic activity to the downtown, the Manistee area and for the Tribe,” said T. Eftaxiadis, environmental brownfield coordinator of Little River Holdings.

It will bring year-round and part-time residents as well as an estimated more than 30,000 visitors annually, he said.

https://www.mlive.com/news/2025/01/h...d%20for%202029.

[Velvet_Highground]

Very nice looking development, not something I would have expected to see here. Though I suppose with the NW coast seeing an increase in year round and seasonal residents it helps to change perspectives on what’s possible.

Was reading an interesting article about higher end developments that have been completed in UP cities, Houghton has really been poppin. The one that really caught my eye is the redevelopment of the former Houghton National Bank building in Marquette, one of the city’s iconic if not the iconic landmark glad to see it getting done.

Upscale new lodgings aim for the high end in the Upper Peninsula

One vault leads to another, and the second is the Vault Marquette, an ambitious renovation and expansion project for the Savings Bank Building on downtown Front Street, on an entire city block overlooking Lake Superior.

The bank was founded in 1890 by Nathan Kaufman, a merchant and speculator in mines, with the landmark seven-story building, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, built in 1892 at the then-astronomical price of $174,000.



The Savings Bank Building has two basements. The lower basement will house a spa, with the basement above it housing what is being termed a speakeasy, the door to which will be an existing ornate vault door.

Barry Polzin, a Marquette-based architect who was honored on May 16 with a lifetime achievement award by the Michigan Historic Preservation Network, is the Juliens’ architect.

The all-woman Detroit-based Parini Interior Design Studio has been hired to do interior design on the hotel. The company has worked with such hotel brands as Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Loews and Hyatt.

Phase two of the project will build a parking deck for 200 vehicles, three retail spaces and 32 apartments.

Phase three will involve building another hotel, of five stories and 62 rooms, on the eastern end of the property. It will also have an event space for 180.

Polzin will be the architect there, too.

Jen Julien says the Vault Marquette should open early in 2027, with the following phases taking several years. The total cost of all three phases is expected to be upwards of $50 million.

For the Vault, the Juliens were awarded a $4.6 million revitalization and placemaking grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.; a brownfield development grant of $495,000 from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy; and a brownfield development grant of $9.2 million from the Marquette City Council.
Jen Julien said the project got a large loan for the project from the Escanaba-based Upper Peninsula State Bank but declined to say how much.

She also said they are looking to expand the Vault concept to other U.P. cities she declined to name. Sault Ste. Marie, a major tourist attraction because of the Soo Locks, would seem to be an obvious choice.

[joemits]

The Vault Marquette finally broke ground, August 2025.

[DetroitMan]

A $28.9M Great Lakes research institute breaks ground near Traverse City

A new center focused on research and entrepeneurship tied to the nation's largest concentration of fresh water is under way near Traverse City.

Groundbreaking took place Friday for the Freshwater Research and Innovation Center just north of Traverse City across West Bay in Elmwood Township, backed by an array of Michigan research and commerce powerhouses. Research projects are expected to include early detection and remediation of the so-called forever chemicals known as PFAS; dealing with microplastics in water; the proliferation of invasive species such as mussels; lead contamination; and nutrient runoffs from land that can cause harmful algae blooms and other problems.

Four partners announced plans for the center in December 2022, and the following June, it got $15 million in funding from the federal American Rescue Act, administered by the state’s Department of Natural Resources.
The partners were the Discovery Pier, a nonprofit organization that works with a range of organizations and schools to provide free Great Lakes-based programs to area students; Houghton-based Michigan Technological University; Traverse City-based Northwestern Michigan College; Traverse Connect, the regional chamber of commerce; and 20Fathoms, a business incubator just down the road.

Subsequent partners include Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, Central Michigan University, Grand Valley State University, the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission and the U.S. Coast Guard.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/educat...-traverse-city

[Velvet_Highground]

Bring Back Calumet Initiative

The Bring Back Calumet Initiative is a community-led effort dedicated to stabilizing, preserving, and redeveloping historic structures in downtown Calumet. The initiative protects Calumet’s National Historic Landmark District designation by restoring key landmarks, strengthening the local economy, and fostering community growth.

Over the past eight years, the initiative has:

Secured $9 million in historic preservation funding

Stabilized 12 historic buildings in downtown Calumet

Supported 17 new or expanding businesses

Received statewide and national recognition, including the Michigan Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation (2023) and the Vernacular Architecture Forum’s Advocacy Award (2024)

The Bring Back Calumet Initiative is a coalition of local and regional organizations working together to advance preservation and economic revitalization. Its members include:

Keweenaw Community Foundation

Village of Calumet and Downtown Development Authority (DDA)

Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance (KEDA)

Houghton County Land Bank Authority (HCLBA)

Keweenaw National Historical Park and Advisory Commission

Main Street Calumet, Inc.

https://www.keweenawcommunityfoundat...g-back-calumet


Volunteers clear debris from Calumet’s historic Ruppe building

Volunteers cleared out debris from Calumet’s historic Ruppe building on Sunday.

Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance Executive Director Jeff Ratcliffe says the clean-up is part of the Bring Back Calumet Initiative, which aims to restore the Ruppe Block on 5th Street.

The Bring Back Calumet Taskforce recently stated it has raised $59,000 out of the needed $200,000 to stabilize and restore the block. Ratcliffe says a descendant of the Ruppe family even donated $10,000 toward the project.

He says fundraising is slow and steady to find a contractor. In the meantime, the initiative is still looking for volunteers to help pave the way for future work.


“But all of this kind of work we can get done with volunteers,” Ratcliffe said. “So, the clean-out, getting the area ready for the contractor to come in and work, that’s the key here, and that’s what we’ve been doing for the last year or so.”

https://www.uppermichiganssource.com...outputType=amp

Ruppe Block Building


https://www.mininggazette.com/news/2...emporary-hold/


https://www.uppermichiganssource.com...outputType=amp


https://www.keweenawcommunityfoundat...g-back-calumet


https://www.keweenawcommunityfoundat...g-back-calumet


New Petoskey apartments offer rare options for workforce housing

Petoskey’s newest affordable housing complex has opened with tenants already moving in and about 30 households still waiting for a spot in a project that took six years to complete.

The developers of Lofts at Lumber Square, located just south of downtown Petoskey, celebrated completing the first 10 units in the $18.3 million project with a ribbon-cutting on Dec. 15. The remaining 50 units will open in January.

The project is geared toward the “missing middle,” or households not eligible for subsidized housing who are priced out of market-rate rentals.

Grand Rapids-based Hooker DeJong Inc. served as the project’s architect, while Kentwood-based Wolverine Building Group was the general contractor.

….

The three-story building on the 0.33-acre site adds 19 one-bedroom, 31 two-bedroom and 10 three-bedroom apartments for Northern Michigan households earning between 80% and 120% of area median income, or approximately $40,000 to $120,000.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...kforce-housing

[DetroitMan]

Renderings show what proposed Traverse City airport hotel could look like

These renderings provide a sneak peek of what a new Traverse City hotel could look like.

A proposed five-story hotel could open as early as 2027 at Traverse City’s Cherry Capital Airport.

Renderings show a sleek, modern design with bright common areas, balconies, a rooftop bar, a skybridge to the airport terminals and more.

https://www.mlive.com/news/2025/12/s...look-like.html