One is responsible for many of the school rebuilds and renovations at Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) over the past 10 years. The other is behind everything from attainable housing projects to Traverse City’s first brand-new marina in years.

Neither are based in northern Michigan.

Meet the Miller Davis Company and the Granger Group, two downstate construction companies that have increasingly shifted their focus to northern Michigan in recent years. What prompted these two developers to bet big on Traverse City, how are their contributions reshaping the region, and what do they see on the horizon for their businesses? We sat down with leaders from both to find out.

Miller Davis

Home base: Kalamazoo

Construction niche: “We have quite a resume of higher education and K-12 projects throughout the state of Michigan. 80 percent of our work volume is in education,” says Jack Abate, vice president and chief operating officer for Miller Davis. Clients include in-state universities (Michigan State, Central Michigan), public school districts (Grass Lake Community Schools, in Jackson County) and even out-of-state collegiate powerhouses (University of Notre Dame). Beyond education, Miller Davis takes on projects in industrial, warehousing, manufacturing and governmental sectors.

Traverse City origin story: “Back in 2016, there was an architect partner of ours that had won a design proposal for Eastern Elementary,” Abate says, referring to the TCAPS project that saw one of the district’s top elementary schools demolished and rebuilt from scratch. “They told us they’d won that project, and that TCAPS was going to be interviewing for construction managers soon.”

Local projects: A successful interview with TCAPS landed Miller Davis the Eastern Elementary job. The company subsequently led the demolition and reconstruction process for the new $15 million, two-story, 59,000 square-foot school. Demolition occurred in summer 2017, and the school opened to students in fall 2018.

Since then, Miller Davis has become a trusted partner for TCAPS in the district’s ongoing efforts to modernize and rebuild. The company served as construction manager for the district’s new Montessori school on Franke Road, the innovation and manufacturing centers at Central and West high schools, and even the artificial turf installation at Thirlby Field.

Miller Davis also worked with Northwestern Michigan College last year, building the school’s new 40,000 square-foot aviation hangar.

Next big thing: On July 13, TCAPS approved the bulk of the contracts and contingencies for the reconstruction of Central Grade School. Miller Davis will serve as construction manager for the $55 million project, which will take three years and completely reimagine the 150-year-old school.

Miller Davis will also work on a future project to renovate Central High School, which requires more than $20 million of work to address ADA accessibility, gym capacity, entrances and exits, security and more.

Long-term plans: Abate estimates the Traverse City area now accounts for 15-20% percent of the developer’s total portfolio of active projects. He’d like to see that figure hold steady or even grow in the years to come.

“The plan is to continue to network and find more developers and owners we can work with,” Abate said.

In particular, diversifying Miller Davis’s northern Michigan workload is a prominent item on the to-do list.

“TCAPS has been very generous in providing us with lots of lots of work, but we know that won't last forever,” Abate explained. “Bonds have to pass for projects like these to continue, and sometimes they don’t pass. You can’t just have all your eggs in one basket.”

Still, with tens of millions of dollars of TCAPS work lined up for the next few years, Abate admits Miller Davis likely won’t be earnestly looking for more Traverse City work until closer to 2028 or 2029.

Granger Group

Home base: Grand Rapids

Construction niche: Locally, Granger has focused largely on housing projects, with an emphasis on bringing new, attainable housing options online. Other specialties include mixed-use developments, commercial and retail projects, restaurants, athletic complexes, medical centers and more.

Traverse City origin story: Chief Investment Officer Devon Joslin says northern Michigan’s local housing crisis has proved the biggest motivator for the Granger Group’s investment in the region.

“Northwest Michigan, everybody's read the same housing demand reports, and every developer wants to come in and satisfy the top 2 percent of the market,” Joslin said. “What Granger has done, historically, is look at a market and say, ‘What about the other 98 percent?' So, we went up there and saw a lot of opportunity to satisfy a part of the market that just wasn't being serviced. And that’s the service industry; it’s the hospitality industry; it’s the people that live and work in the Traverse City area.”

Local projects: The “featured assets under development” section of Granger’s website lists four key projects in the pipeline for the developer; three of them are in Traverse City. Overall, Joslin estimates that northern Michigan represents 30-40 percent of Granger’s development pipeline.

The behemoth for Granger, locally, is Acme Village, a new residential development off Mt. Hope Road in Acme. Last year, Granger completed the buildout on the first phase, dubbed “The Flats of Acme Village,” which spans 60 “two- or three-bedroom condo style single-story homes” across 10 acres (pictured). Around the same time, Granger announced phase two: a pair of three-story buildings containing a total of 96 new apartments, called The Grove at Acme Village.

When all is said and done, Joslin says the Acme Village project will span nine phases and some $300 million in investment, including flats, condos, apartments, townhouses and cottages.

“We have another phase that we'll be hopefully announcing soon, so I won't tell you too much about that right now. But I can say that we have several other phases planned, between housing and retail,” Joslin said. “Our goal is really to make it a lifestyle community at that one development site.”

Next big thing: While housing is the Granger Group’s big focus in Traverse City, the company’s next major project prioritizes another need: more boat slips.

Granger has been tapped by a local partner to build a new marina in the area. Joslin declined to share specific details for the project, which hasn’t been publicly announced yet – though he did clarify the project is different from the 80- to 100-slip marina DeVos-owned boat dealer Walstrom Marine is planning to build on West Grand Traverse Bay.

“We have a local partner that we're doing a joint venture with,” Joslin teases. “They were able to get the site control and bring that to the project, and then they brought us this great opportunity.”

Joslin describes Granger’s partner as “a local operator” that is “involved in the community” and “would really love to just bring something online that there is clearly a market demand for.” Locally, he notes, most marinas have waitlists five to 10 years long.

According to Joslin, the marina project is “shovel-ready,” with Granger “hopefully planning to break ground this fall, do construction over the winter, and have it online by the spring.” That timeline would put the project ahead of Walstrom's marina, which has been eyed for a 2028 opening at the earliest.

This story is a condensed version of a feature that appears in the August issue of the Traverse City Business News. Click here to subscribe.