A $30.4 million project years in the making is reaching a key milestone as Bay Area Transportation Authority (BATA) prepares to move into its new headquarters on LaFranier Road. Garfield Township trustees will vote tonight (Tuesday) at a special meeting to confirm that conditions have been met for BATA to request its certificate of occupancy. Those conditions include construction starting on a connected housing development, with Traverse City Housing Commission (TCHC) Executive Director Karl Fulmer confirming the organization is “fully under construction” on the first phase of 48 apartments.

BATA and TCHC are partners on the new transit-oriented and workforce housing development on a 50-acre site at the northeast corner of LaFranier and Hammond roads. The site will include an 78,500-square-foot headquarters for BATA with administrative offices, a bus storage garage, maintenance and dispatch facilities, and a new bus transfer station. TCHC plans to build 210 apartments over multiple phases in an adjacent workforce housing development called The Flats at Carriage Commons. Another 18 single-family lots are planned to be developed in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Grand Traverse Region.

Because the LaFranier property is zoned for housing, not transit, Garfield Township trustees wanted guarantees that housing would be built as part of the development. Accordingly, they attached a condition to the project approval requiring housing construction to begin before BATA can move in. With BATA construction now wrapping up after 14 months of work, the transportation authority is ready to seek its certificate of occupancy – and needs township sign-off that TCHC has started the housing construction.

Fulmer says that condition is “absolutely” met, with TCHC’s contractor – Wolverine Building Group – already working at the site. “We’re fully under construction on the first phase,” Fulmer says. “That’s a large clubhouse building, as well as two additional buildings that will have 48 units.” Fulmer anticipates construction will take roughly 15 months for phase one, with the first apartments likely coming online in fall 2025.

A planning department staff memo to Garfield Township trustees notes that “the township made it clear of its concern of the housing portion not being completed resulting in only the transit portion being completed. Therefore, (Tuesday’s special meeting) review is essential to addressing this concern and the intent of the condition of approval of the PUD.” The memo mentions several factors trustees can consider to find the housing requirement satisfied, including photos of active construction, funding agreements, and construction agreements.  A construction agreement with Wolverine Building Group is included in the meeting packet, as is a memo from co-developer Smith & Henzy Affordable Group stating that financing for the project closed on June 21.

“Our position is that the condition has been met,” says BATA Executive Director Kelly Dunham. “We see the construction taking place, the beginning stages with infrastructure going in and site leveling underway.” If township trustees concur that “housing construction is sufficient and complies with the housing condition of approval,” as the suggested motion in the meeting packet states, Dunham says she’s hopeful BATA can obtain its certificate of occupancy yet this week.

That would kick off a four-week moving period to relocate employees, buses, and equipment from BATA’s existing facility on Cass Road to the LaFranier Road complex. “Our on-demand service and dispatchers and mechanics will go over first, and then we’ll bring our fixed-route services over after about ten days,” Dunham says. “That’s so we can get some of the new processes and procedures ironed out.”

Dunham expects BATA to be fully operational in its new headquarters by the end of August. Services “increasing options for getting downtown are being planned for September as we bring the new LaFranier transfer area online,” Dunham says. BATA has until the end of September to be fully out of the Cass Road facility, which is being purchased by Bob and Leslie Roe of Precision Plumbing and Heating Systems. They plan to use the property “for the future operations center of their local heating, plumbing, and electrical business," according to a previous BATA release.

The sale of the Cass Road facility for $2 million is one of several funding sources for the new headquarters, estimated at $30.4 million – though Dunham notes the project is expected to come in under budget. Other funding sources include the Federal Transit Administration at $13 million, the Michigan Department of Transportation at $10 million, and a BATA board capital allocation of $5.4 million.

“It feels great to be at this stage of the project after years of working on it diligently, to be knocking on the door of finally getting in there,” says Dunham. “Working off of two separate facilities on Cass Road and an additional leased lot has been a really cumbersome way to run operations. We’re excited for the day-to-day improvements of being on one campus. It’s a very professional space, and it’s going to increase the professionalism of our organization and bring us operational efficiencies.”