City to Consider Future of Crooked Tree, Bijou, Other City Buildings

Traverse City commissioners plan to kick off 2025 with a review of city buildings, their physical condition, and their leases – with the goal of creating an updated policy that provides “fairness and consistency” for tenants who want to rent city buildings, according to City Manager Liz Vogel. The discussion was prompted by the Traverse City Film Festival’s looming exit from the Bijou by the Bay building and by dueling proposals from Crooked Tree Arts Center and the Traverse Area District Library to use the Carnegie Building on Sixth Street, as well as past lease issues at properties like the Outpost TC/former Brew space on Front Street.

Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to extend Crooked Tree’s lease for the Carnegie Building – which was set to expire in June 2025 – by 15 months through the end of October 2026. The extension is intended to give Crooked Tree, a nonprofit community arts center, “time to continue programming through the 2025 and 2026 seasons while allowing the city time to assess the building’s maintenance needs and future use,” according to a memo from Assistant City Manager Deborah Allen. Crooked Tree’s lease was increased from $50,000 to $55,000 annually as part of the extension.

Prior to the commission vote, representatives and supporters of Traverse Area District Library (TADL) asked commissioners to delay the lease extension and consider instead a proposal from TADL to take over the Carnegie Building. Noting that the city’s historic Con Foster collection is already housed in the building’s vault, Amy Barritt – branch manager for TADL’s Kingsley Branch – advocated for converting the building into a “city museum and archive” that would include the local history collection housed at TADL.

“This building, owned by the city and its citizens, was designed with one purpose in mind: to serve the information needs of our community,” Barritt said, referring to the Carnegie Building’s history as a regional library. Barritt said Traverse City “deserves a museum that unites our people, celebrates our collective past, and sparks curiosity. TADL is eager to make that vision a reality for our city.” TADL has the expertise to run such a facility, Barritt said, pointing to the library’s maintenance of an online archive of over 27,000 items of “historical significance to Grand Traverse County” and its team of archivists, museum curators, and historians, plus accounting, IT, legal, and other support staff.

Barritt said TADL’s board approved a resolution to explore other locations to house the local history collection, “as we are now turning donations away. We need room to grow to best serve Traverse City.” She painted a vision of a “vibrant place for history where locals can dive in, classrooms can explore interactive labs, and we all come together to learn and grow.” The site could also display the Con Foster exhibits, the “largest 3D collection of Traverse City’s history,” Barritt said. “This building could be the heart of it all.”

While several residents spoke Monday in support of TADL’s proposal, Crooked Tree’s supporters also showed up in strength after the nonprofit’s leaders got wind of the counter-proposal and posted an urgent call to action on social media. “If we don’t act, we could be forced to move out in six months – after nearly a decade of serving Traverse City as a vibrant arts and cultural hub,” Crooked Tree posted. “Displacing CTAC would place a massive financial and logistical burden on our organization – and impact the community we serve.”

The arts organization said it fully supports having a history museum in the area but believes “there are vacant spaces better suited for this effort.” Kristi Wodek, vice president of Crooked Tree’s Traverse City center, told commissioners they’ve been “committed, reliable tenants paying our rent on time and working collaboratively with the city” even while navigating challenging HVAC issues in the building. She said Crooked Tree is open to the public for free and offers “dynamic and inclusive programming,” calling it a “thriving and viable organization with a bright future ahead.”

City Manager Liz Vogel said the recent HVAC issues are among many serious building conditions that need to be addressed at the historic property before committing any tenant to another long-term lease. A 15-month extension for Crooked Tree would “balance the needs of the current tenant while making well-informed long-term decisions about the use and maintenance of all city facilities,” she said. Vogel proposed a February 10 study session in which commissioners will review a facilities master plan from consulting firm Tower Pinkster – which outlines the current condition of city buildings and needed improvements – as well as existing building tenants/uses with the goal of creating an updated policy for city facilities.

Those facilities include not just the Carnegie Building but spaces like Outpost TC/Brew – which previously went dark for several months in violation of its lease terms shortly after commissioners approved a long-term extension – and the Bijou by the Bay. The Traverse City Film Festival is set to vacate the Bijou at the end of this month, with multiple users expressing interest in using the space – including the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians for a cultural center. “Our goal is to take a unified approach managing leases, ensuring fairness and consistency,” Vogel said.

Mayor Amy Shamroe tells The Ticker she supports undertaking that review, noting that the process for determining who gets to use city spaces – and how and when their leases are renewed – has become “very inconsistent over time.” Incorporating a request-for-proposals (RFP) into lease renewals could “allow us to review leases and make sure people in those leases are still meeting community needs, or seeing if there are newer and better ways for using spaces,” Shamroe says.

Commissioner Mi Stanley said Traverse City has grown to the degree it may need to add staff specifically dedicated to this issue. “It seems that we are maybe at a point where we need a facilities manager or someone to be really looking at these things thoroughly and keeping on top of them, because this has grown in complexity,” she said.