Long-time Traverse City restaurant institution Taco House is closing its doors and downtown eatery Harvest is moving to Front Street – both moves that are expected to happen by the end of 2018.

Taco House owner John Coscarelli confirms to The Ticker he is retiring after nearly four decades running his Mexican fast-food eatery at 1707 South Garfield Avenue. “It’s been a great 37 years in Traverse City,” Coscarelli says. “The community has supported us outstandingly. I just feel like it’s time to retire and spend more time with my grandkids.”

Coscarelli approached Bill Marsh Auto earlier this year to offer to sell his property to the adjacent dealership. The companies have a long history together, having helped grow the busy Garfield corridor together since the early 1980s: Coscarelli opened his restaurant in 1981, while Bill Marsh Sr. purchased a nearby Buick dealership in 1982. A purchase agreement was signed between the two companies several months ago, but kept confidential as Coscarelli worked to wind down operations at Taco House. The owner informed his staff of the impending closure last week; he plans to continue serving customers over the next two months before closing at the end of December.

“I’m going to miss working with my employees every day. We not only work together, but we’re friends and there are a lot of relationships that have been cultivated over the years,” Coscarelli says. “I’m going to miss seeing all my customers, too. I have some that come in on a daily basis.”

Bill Marsh Co-Owner Jamie Marsh tells The Ticker the property will provide more vehicle display and guest parking areas for the auto dealership. The site will also offer valuable real estate along Garfield to allow for additional signage and visibility. “It seemed like a natural fit for us to be able to acquire a front piece, and gives us more breathing room and frontage on Garfield, which is pretty precious,” says Marsh. “There are no other contiguous properties that could really be available for us.” Marsh estimates the Taco House building could be demolished on the property by “late first quarter of 2019.”

As news of Taco House’s closure spread on social media Monday, many long-time customers questioned if Coscarelli could keep the restaurant going by selling to a new owner or by selling the recipes or business concept to someone else locally. Coscarelli says that selling the parcel to Bill Marsh was the right move for him at this time, but keeps the door open to Taco House returning in some form in the future. “As of now I’m retiring and the business is closing, but there may be interest expressed in the future in carrying on, and I am willing to keep an open mind and talk about it,” he says.

Changes are also coming by the end of the year to another Traverse City restaurant downtown. Harvest is preparing to expand to its third location in four years – this time to what owner Simon Joseph hopes will be the long-term home for the restaurant. After closing his fusion restaurant Gaijin at 136 East Front Street in July, Joseph originally hoped to launch a new concept in the space by the fall, but has since decided to move Harvest from its existing location at 127 South Union Street into the Front Street space and let another restaurateur take over the Union Street space.

“I feel as though the Front Street space is a lot more harmonious with our brand at Harvest,” says Joseph. “There’s the open kitchen design, it’s more intimate, it’s more colorful. The beauty of this move is that (the space) is already a fully functional restaurant. We’ll rebrand it, but we’re not changing the layout or equipment, so it’ll be a pretty easy move compared to some of the other ones.”

Prior to its current location, Harvest first opened in the small building behind Union Street Station in the alley between Union and Cass streets. That building is now home to Joseph’s Alley’s Market pizza shop and convenience store. Joseph says launching a new restaurant concept is still a possibility for the future, but that for now he plans to focus on moving Harvest – a relocation he hopes will happen by the end of the year – and running Alley’s Market and his seasonal Roaming Harvest food truck. Joseph will also host pop-up restaurant Conifer – run by brothers Patrick and Michael Evans – in the Front Street space this Friday and Saturday from 5:30pm to 10:30pm. Coldwell Banker Schmidt Realtors has the Union Street space listed for lease for $6,000/month plus utilities.

In other retail/restaurant news...
Two new burger joints are opening their doors this month in Traverse City. Midland Burger Company will launch a stand within State Street Marketplace in downtown Traverse City this coming weekend. Owners Jim and Ashley Welch are expanding their “locally sourced, hand-crafted burgers and poutine” food truck and fast-casual empire from downstate Michigan to Traverse City. The company offers a choice of gluten-free buns as well as “impossible” burgers (plant-based veggie burgers) in addition to traditional offerings to accommodate a wide range of customers. The stand also hand-cuts fries from Michigan potatoes. Meanwhile, in the Grand Traverse Mall, The Patty Shack opened earlier this month in the mall food court offering burgers with “fresh, never-frozen beef, hand-cut fries, and local Northwoods Soda.”

Former downtown hot dog food truck Uptown Dogs is opening a brick-and-mortar location today (Tuesday) at 405 South Union Street in the former Salon Elon Vital space. Operated by Chef Colbye O'Neil, the company offers a wide variety of dogs – including Chicago, chili, American, vegan, and gluten-free options, among others – and plans to be open Monday-Saturday from 11am until 7pm, reopening late nights Friday and Saturday from midnight until 4am. The eatery will be closed on Sundays. 

Planetary Coffee, another company that started as a downtown Traverse City truck, also has a new brick-and-mortar location. Owners Emily Wilensky and Erik Harms announced on their Facebook page last week that they will soon be opening a coffee shop at 135 Ames Street in downtown Elk Rapids. The couple was last based in State Street Marketplace in downtown Traverse City, but closed that location September 30.

Don and Jean Ludka have closed their 7-Eleven store across from Northwestern Michigan College at 128 Munson Avenue after numerous years in business. The duo posted a note on the front door of the former convenience store - the parking lot of which is now taped off and inaccessible - thanking customers for "all the good years" and encouraging patrons to come visit their other Traverse City 7-Eleven store at 1795 Barlow Street.

After previously announcing to The Ticker they were opening a new restaurant in the former Thimbleberry Kids space in the Garfield Center retail strip, Red Ginger owners Dan and Pam Marsh no longer plan to open a new eatery in the Garfield Avenue space home to HoneyBaked Ham, The UPS Store, and Nails Tek, among others. Pam Marsh confirmed to The Ticker the planned fast-casual eatery was no longer moving ahead, but declined further comment. The space is currently listed as available for lease. 

Finally, Party Giant is closing its doors at the end of this month in Buffalo Ridge Center. The store, located at 3603 Marketplace Circle between Lucky’s Market and the new Hobby Lobby store under construction, moved to the site in 2017. Owners posted on the company’s Facebook page that they were closing the store on October 31 to “concentrate on our online business.”