Twenty-five years ago this fall, the Traverse City Regional Psychiatric Hospital closed its doors, a moment that changed the landscape of mental health in northern Michigan and charted a new course for the historic property.

The Commons
In 1989, plenty of ideas were floated about what to do with the historic buildings and the sprawling grounds; money, however, wasn’t flying.

Among the ideas were low-income housing, mental health facilities, parkland, tourism lodging, and a botanic garden. Many have come to fruition, most of them thanks to The Minervini Group, developers of the Village at Grand Traverse Commons.

A committee eventually worked throughout the 1990s and basically got nowhere, except to recommend that Building 50 be torn down because it would be too expensive to fix. One committee member, Ray Minervini, whose experience was in small housing developments, was horrified at the idea and offered to buy “subarea 2,” which included Building 50, land and other buildings, thus shifting it from public ownership to private. The Minervini Group paid $1.

They’ve spent upwards of $100 million in the past 13 years.

Early on the planning was a nightmare, Minervini says, with a “ping-pong” match between the City of Traverse City and Garfield Township (The Commons property resides in both).

“It took us eight to 10 months to change the specs on what kind of lightbulb we should use,” Minervini says. “There were 11 of us around a table and someone cracked, ‘How many developers does it take to change a lightbulb?’”

There’s now a joint planning commission specifically for the Commons, which expedites decisions, he adds.

The group has at least another 10 years’ worth of plans, Minervini adds, including a boutique hotel, a small parking deck, more residential live/work space, an event space and a possible taproom or small brewery.

The Care
Some 200 patients were transferred in the summer of 1989, with the last ones leaving the Hospital in August. At the time, the State of Michigan was working to get out of the mental health business and move to a community-based system.

Bill Paxton was working in behavioral health in Grand Rapids at the time and remembers the changes vividly. He's now director of Northern Michigan Services at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services, which is on the grounds of the former state hospital.

“For the vast majority, community-based care is better than an institution or a hospital,” he says of the changes. “We’re giving hope to people, doing things we never thought possible.” On the other hand, “there are huge gaps where we have failed as a society.” He cites more “payment-driven services” and state cutbacks as some of the problems.

He also worries we have failed children, especially those that might be a danger to themselves or others. “There’s no good place” for them, he adds.

Another drawback to community-based care is safety, or the public’s perception therein. “We’ve always had some tension to keep people in the community feeling safe and yet integrating people into the community.”

And, while institutions aren’t in vogue now, they were state-of-the-art when they were started, he adds, incorporating work-therapy, beautiful surroundings and safety.

The advent of psychiatric medication in the 1950s and early 1960s was a huge development, he says. And now, brain research helps decide treatment, which is another huge stride.

“I’m proud of my field and its successes,” he says.