More details are emerging on a planned waterfront development called the Mill District on Woodmere Avenue – a site project partner Tim Pulliam envisions as a “local adventure hub” that will serve as the new home for Brick Wheels, a planned restaurant/café/brewery, residential housing, bike and paddleboard rentals, public connections to Boardman Lake and the TART Trail, and a waterside pavilion. Traverse City planning commissioners tonight (Tuesday) will discuss the four-building mixed-use development, with Pulliam’s team hoping to break ground this coming spring or summer.

The Mill District is planned for the former TC Millworks site at 1032 Woodmere Avenue. The company has outgrown the property and moved to a new facility on Aero Park Drive. Pulliam previously told The Ticker he and his partners wanted to explore new uses for the Woodmere property, which is located right next to Boardman Lake and the Boardman Lake Loop Trail. Those plans have evolved into an ambitious redevelopment designed to provide public connections to the trail and lake, with recreational offerings and on-site amenities for trail users. Pulliam, an avid trail user himself, says that despite there being more people on the loop than ever since it was completed, there are only a handful of designated parking areas and hangout destinations around the lake.

“We wanted to have this hub where you can get a coffee or croissant, go for a ride or paddle, and hopefully have a brewery and some type of restaurant where you can hang out after when you’re done,” he says. “Part of the vision is creating a place that will allow the community to access the loop and the lake and be able to gather before and after they're doing things.”

Pulliam and his partners received city approval earlier this year for a variance that will allow them to apply for a planned unit development (PUD) – a zoning plan tailored to a specific property, typically one that is unique or has several complex issues. Traverse City’s zoning ordinance requires a minimum lot size of three acres for a PUD, but the TC Millworks site is 1.16 acres. City commissioners have the ability, however, to authorize PUD applications for properties under three acres, which they did for TC Millworks in August. The lot shape is unique – it’s very narrow and long – and has several challenges, including three different street frontages with three front yard setbacks and adjacent railroad right-of-way. The PUD process, therefore, is intended to create a site-specific plan that can accommodate those challenges in development.

Pulliam and his team submitted a PUD application to the city in November. Planning commissioners tonight will get their first look at the application as part of a conceptual review – an early informal conversation between planning commissioners and developers to gather feedback before formal review occurs. No action or approval is expected to be taken by planning commissioners tonight, though they can share concerns, elements they like or don’t like, or items they hope to see addressed as the application moves forward.

According to the PUD application, four buildings are envisioned for the site – likely to be built in phases from south to north. Pulliam says the commercial phase will be built first, with a targeted spring/summer 2025 groundbreaking. Brick Wheels is planned to be the major retail anchor site for the site, relocating from its decades-long home on Eighth Street. Andy Weir purchased the Brick Wheels business in 2022 but doesn’t own the building itself, Pulliam says, with the Mill District offering an opportunity for a new long-term waterfront headquarters. Pulliam says the goal is to have the site’s “adventure hub”– featuring Brick Wheels, bike and paddleboard rentals, and a co-mingled café/restaurant/brewery space – open by summer 2026.

Designs for the building footprints are “90 percent there,” Pulliam says, with the entire site planned to be fully electrified. “There will be no natural gas, no fossil fuels,” he says. Underground parking is planned with green space on top so the site “doesn’t feel like one giant connected building,” Pulliam says. Plans also call for an additional surface parking lot, waterfront pavilion, and a public trail connection.

City Planning Director Shawn Winter outlined issues planning commissioners should consider for each of those amenities. The waterfront pavilion will likely require future separate approvals from the city commission, Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), and potentially the Army Corps of Engineers, Winter noted.

A non-motorized trail is planned to connect from the Mill District through city-owned property to the west out to the Boardman Lake Loop Trail. Switchbacks are incorporated into the design to meet ADA compliance. “The land necessary to accommodate the slope requirements will be further evaluated based on site topography,” Winter wrote. “It is anticipated that some trees will need to be removed to accommodate the trail connection.” The final trail design should be approved by city engineering and other staff, according to Winter. TART Trails provided a letter of support to the planning commission, saying the “prospect of improving non-motorized access to the Boardman Lake Loop Trail, extending beyond the Mill District to the Traverse Heights neighborhood, is particularly exciting.”

The surface parking lot is planned on the site’s west side, “most of which sits on the adjacent city-owned property and Sheffer Street right-of-way,” Winter wrote. “It is believed that this parking lot will serve as a public trailhead for users and likely visitors to the business on site.” The developers and city will need to come to an agreement outlining who’s responsible for construction and maintenance costs, Winter said, as the city will ultimately own the trail portion on its property. A portion of Sheffer Street will also need to be decertified. Square Deal Country Store has also expressed interest in redeveloping its property in the future and is open to further decertification of Sheffer Street, but for the time being has requested access be maintained on the west side of the building to accommodate delivery trucks, according to Winter’s memo.

Pulliam says the residential housing component of the project will follow the commercial buildout, though details on that aspect are still evolving. The developers are open to partnering with an outside housing agency, though are skeptical of whether timing and scale issues could make, say, a Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) project possible. For-sale units at or below market rate are another option. Pulliam believes condo costs have skyrocketed in Traverse City without an accompanying increase in quality, and wants to provide housing – whatever form it takes – that’s a “good value to the community.” He’s also firm that he doesn’t want Airbnb rentals within the Mill District, seeing it as a community-first project.

“I want this to be a place people actually live,” he says, “hopefully people who are attracted to the vibes we’re creating, with connections to the lake and the surrounding neighborhoods.”

Pictured: Rendering of the Mill District site from the perspective of Boardman Lake. Photo credit: Studio+/Keen. For more project renderings, visit The Ticker's Facebook page.