Garfield Township planning commissioners Wednesday unanimously approved a site plan for Traverse Symphony Orchestra to open a new Community Music School in the Cherryland Center. Planning commissioners also approved an amendment to the Traverse City Housing Commission’s plans for a new housing development next to the BATA transit center under construction at the corner of Hammond and LaFranier roads. The amendment shifts the location, size, and height of residential buildings in the development.

TSO Community Music School
Traverse Symphony Orchestra (TSO) has the all-clear from Garfield Township to begin work on a new Community Music School in part of the Traverse City Curling Center building (formerly the Kmart store) in the Cherryland Center.

Planning commissioners unanimously approved the site plan for the project, which will see TSO lease approximately 10,260 square feet of vacant space from the Traverse City Curling Club (TCCC) accessible from the rear west side of the building. The facility will offer teaching studios, office and conference rooms, green rooms, a lobby, a box office, and a rehearsal hall and recital venue. (The TSO orchestra will rehearse but not perform in the space due to size constraints with audiences, continuing to use other community venues for performances). The facility will also serve as the new headquarters for TSO operations, which will relocate to the Cherryland Center from Radio Centre downtown.

The Community Music School will house current TSO offerings – including Civic Orchestra and Chamber Ensembles, online classes, family concerts, Suzuki music classes, Masterworks in Miniature, Tots@TADL, and TSO in the Schools – as well as new parent and baby classes, private music lessons, a Senior Band, and a Youth Orchestra. Encore Winds, a local nonprofit group, is also coming under the TSO umbrella. TSO has stated it’s committed to making the facility accessible to all backgrounds and income levels, including offering “significant scholarships” for students.

“We have an opportunity to take something in this old Kmart and make this a great benefit for our community,” TSO Executive Director Dr. Kedrik Merwin told planning commissioners. “This Community Music School will serve the needs of everyone...providing a lifetime of cultural enrichment for the entire life cycle of the family.” TCCC Board Vice President Kevin Byrne said the school represents an approximately $3 million investment in the building, bringing the total investment at the Cherryland Center to approximately $15 million since TCCC purchased Kmart. “We’re not done yet,” Byrne added, hinting TCCC would be back before township officials soon with another project for approval.

Jerry Tomczak of construction management firm Cunningham-Limp said exterior improvements for the school will include new landscaped islands, improved sidewalk, lighting, and a new entry. Township Planning Director John Sych said that’s a positive for enlivening the rear side of the building, activating the space and improving safety and aesthetics in the back as well as the front of the Cherryland Center. He noted large big-box stores can be challenging to adaptively reuse and that non-traditional, non-retail uses – like the curling center and TSO school – are examples of how that can be accomplished. “I think this is a good fit for this location,” he said.

As more uses come online in the Cherryland Center, planning commissioners intend to require more internal sidewalks, a sidewalk along Garfield Avenue, and more landscaping buffers. However, the board agreed not to impose those requirements yet with the TSO school but to instead defer them until more uses/buildings are established on-site so infrastructure improvements can be implemented in a coordinated manner. Sidewalks and landscaping buffers will need to be addressed by TCCC before summer 2025, according to the approval language.

Merwin tells The Ticker that TSO is “pleased and honored” that planning commissioners unanimously approved the project and expressed gratitude to TCCC “for their support and assistance as we lease this new space from them.” TSO is continuing to fundraise for the school – the organization had raised over $1.5 million in donations by August, with gifts continuing to come in – and aims to begin construction early in the new year, Merwin says. That should allow the buildout to finish “in time for the TSO Community Music School to begin full on-site programming next school year,” Merwin says.

TCHC/BATA Project
Planning commissioners this week also unanimously approved a request from the Traverse City Housing Commission (TCHC) to amend its planned unit development (PUD) with BATA at the corner of LaFranier and Hammond roads. A PUD is a zoning plan tailored to a specific property, often for mixed-use developments. BATA is opening a new transit center and headquarters on the property – under construction now – while TCHC is building an estimated $65 million workforce housing complex called The Flats at Carriage Commons.

The PUD amendment sought to shift the location, size, and height of multi-family residential buildings on the property – primarily to accommodate a new 3,500-square-foot clubhouse. “Even for affordable housing or workforce housing, you really should provide some site amenities that you would see market-rate apartments provide,” TCHC Executive Director Karl Fulmer explained. The total number of units in the complex will remain the same – 210 – as will the number of planned apartment buildings at five. But two of those buildings will now be four stories instead of three, going up from 40 feet to 45 feet, while the other three buildings will slightly decrease to 36 feet.

As TCHC works on obtaining state funding and tax credits for the income-based rental apartments, the organization plans to build out The Flats at Carriage Commons in four phases. Phase one will include two three-story buildings, the clubhouse, and a playground. Phase two will include a four-story building. Phase three will include a three-story building, while phase four will include the final four-story building. All four phases feature a mix of units, including studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments. Fifteen single-family homes – managed through a separate project partner – and a childcare center and café/neighborhood commercial building are also planned for the property.

Pictured: Rendering of TSO Community Music School. Photo credit: Cornerstone Architects