JACQUELINE P. OLSON, J.D.

Ms. Olson is a cum laude graduate of the Detroit - Mercy School of Law where she was president of the school’s Environmental Law Society and received the college’s Community Service Award. The focus of Ms. Olson’s practice is real estate, construction law and land use/zoning.

We’re honored to have her on our team!

Expect new projects to emerge throughout 2023 as well. For instance, Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) is considering selling its administration building. The TCAPS Board of Education voted in 2022 to solicit offers to see if the structure or the property could be put to a better use. While the board rejected the two initial offers they received – one from TCHC, the other from Ethos Development Partners, both of which would have converted the property to housing – trustees have expressed interest in keeping the conversation open.

> LABOR, INFLATION AND PRICING

2021 was a bad year for most employers: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 47 million Americans quit their jobs in 2021.

In February 2020, right before the pandemic, the U.S. labor force had reached an all-time high of 164.6 million people. In other words, in 2021 alone, approximately one-third of American workers took part in the phenomenon that has since been dubbed the Great Resignation.

You don’t need to go far to see how that trend has impacted local employers; organizations in virtually every northern Michigan sector have been vocal about their difficulties finding employees – whether at job fairs, in the media, or via visible help wanted signs outside their businesses.

Labor trends aren’t the only existential challenges facing employers. Inflation has sent prices for many goods skyrocketing, which in turn has slowed spending. In June of 2022, for instance, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) charted a 9.1 percent year-over-year jump – the largest increase in 40 years. Food, energy, gas, and many other goods saw their biggest price jumps in recent memory in 2022.

Labor challenges and rising prices are pinching businesses in potentially unsustainable ways. Speaking to TCBN sister publication The Ticker in August, Soon Hagerty – who owns the downtown restaurant The Good Bowl – proclaimed that the current trends were effectively breaking the restaurant business model.

“Restaurateurs are paying cooks $3 to $8 more per hour for the same role as last year, cost of goods is up 30 % and half of the time you can’t even get supplies that you need to run the business,” she explained. “The post-pandemic is wreaking havoc on the restaurant model as a whole and you cannot offset the costs enough to the customer to even level this out. Raising prices can’t be the only solution.”

On the labor side, expect to see more local employers investing in housing for their workers. In 2022, Short’s Brewing Co. bought a motel to accommodate sea- sonal staff, while Grand Traverse Resort and Spa broke ground on a dormitory to house visa workers from other countries.

Resort General Manager Matthew Bryant said the local shortage of affordable housing is the biggest challenge many employers face when trying to fill positions, and that employers building their own housing is likely the only way they will be able to go forward for the next five to six years until something significantly changes with affordable housing in the region.

Meanwhile, inflation persists. Based on the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index – which economists often cite as the best measure of actual inflation, as it excludes data from the especially volatile food and energy markets – inflation in 2022 far outpaced what experts expected.

Based on a Bloomberg survey from last year, the PCE index was predicted to fall to 2.5 percent by the end of 2022; per the New York Times, it’s running at 5 percent. Now, economists are projecting that the PCE index will be down to 3 percent by the end of 2023, but as the Times article explores, there is some skepticism as to whether those projections will be accurate when last year’s weren’t.

The good news is that the straightening out of the global supply chain is finally starting to deliver noticeable benefits to consumers – namely, more product availability and price declines. Lately, those positive shifts have been seen in markets ranging from new and used cars, to furniture, to coffee, to clothing and apparel, to home appliances. Expect those trends to continue in 2023 – hopefully delivering some much-needed relief to employers and consumers.

Eric Nittolo is building a mini restaurant empire in Lake Leelanau.

On the heels of launching a private jazz club called Powerhouse Speakeasy last spring – which itself came shortly after the February 2021 opening of Nittolo’s Pizza and the May 2021 inception of Nittolo’s Seafood & Social – Nittolo is ready to introduce a fourth restaurant concept.

This one, simply called “The Social,” will feature a menu of authentic Spanish tapas and wine, offered in a cozy wine lounge setting.

A 2007 graduate of the Great Lakes Culinary Institute at Northwestern Michigan College, Nittolo worked in the kitchens of numerous establishments in and around Traverse City, including The Boathouse on Old Mission Peninsula, Reflect Bistro at Cambria Suites Hotel, and LochenHeath Golf Club.

In 2017, after returning to Traverse City from a three-year spell working in Virginia, Nittolo circled the idea of opening a restaurant – also called Nittolo’s Seafood & Social – on Union Street in downtown Traverse City. That version of the restaurant never materialized, but Nittolo found a home for his authentic Italian cooking in Lake Leelanau.

Lake Leelanau also provided one big benefit over Traverse City: Where downtown TC space is scarce, often small, and always priced at a premium, Nittolo was able to secure what he calls “a whale of a building” in Lake Leelanau. That building, the former home of Bella Fortuna restaurant, boasts 7,000 square feet of space.

All that extra room has given Nittolo the freedom to expand and explore new culinary ideas without having to invest in separate spaces. All three existing Nittolo’s restaurant concepts – the pizzeria, the seafood restaurant, and the speakeasy – currently operate at the 104 Main St. address, and come May, Nittolo will add a fourth.

The Social will feature a menu of tapas, or Spanish small plates, and will occupy the same bar space that is used on Friday and Saturday evenings for Power- house Speakeasy.

“We have this vacant room for most of the week with this beautiful bar in it that sits empty Sunday through Thursday,” he said. “So we thought, ‘Let’s open that space as a Spanish tapas and wine lounge, and we’ll run it Sunday through Thursday, and we’ll be open from 7-11pm.’”

The space will then morph back into the speakeasy on Friday and Saturday nights.

Nittolo’s goal is to deliver something that doesn’t exist elsewhere in northern Michigan’s restaurant scene. To that end, he’s planning to take a research trip to Spain in March to get a better handle on the art of authentic Spanish cooking.

Based on what he learns from the trip, Nittolo’s plan is to craft a 12-item tapas menu with each item priced in the $6-$8 range. That approach and pricing model will encourage diners to order a variety of small plates to try or share. In addition to the Spanish appetizers, The Social will feature 12 Spanish wines available on tap via a new cuvée wine system.

Beyond The Social and his other existing restaurant concepts, Nittolo also isn’t ruling out future growth or additional restaurant concepts at the 104 Main St. building. He says he has an entire dining room in the building that goes largely unused in the summertime, thanks to the restaurant’s substantial outdoor seating capacity.

“Our outdoor seating will be 176 people next year,” he noted. “And so that big dining room, unless it’s inclement weather or 90 degree outside ... sits vacant in the summer.”

The Village of Kingsley is going to have a big 2023. For years, this small northern Michigan town has been referred to – perhaps unfairly – as one of Traverse City’s bedroom communities. That conversation hasn’t died down in recent years, as rising housing prices and limited residential inventory in Traverse City have forced more people who work in TC to live elsewhere.

But Kingsley seems to be ready for its reputation as a bedroom community to drift away. Significant growth and development is playing out in Kingsley, and those trends have the potential to turn the town into a thriving little city all its own. Here’s a sampling:

Brownson Park transformation

Kingsley was recently awarded a $1 million grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to revitalize Brownson Memorial Park, which is essentially the town’s main square. The money, which comes from the state’s Public Gathering Spaces Initiative, will pay for a substantial transformation of the 2.4-acre park, including new walking paths, fitness stations, splash pad upgrades, perimeter fencing, ground surfacing, upgraded playground equipment, ADA-friendly structures and amenities, and equipment to support park events like festivals, local business activities, and the recently revamped Kingsley Market. The village also received an additional $50,000 “Assets for Thriving Communities” grant as part of the Rotary Charities of Traverse City fall grant cycle, with the money earmarked for the Brownson Park project.

A new brewpub and beer garden

“We will be welcoming at least two new businesses into the area (in 2023),” said Max Anderson, chair of the Kingsley Downtown Development Authority and Brownfield Redevelopment Authority Board. The first is Kingsley Local Brewing Company, which is setting up shop in the historic building located at 121 Brownson Ave. Pete Kirkwood, owner of Traverse City’s Workshop Brewing Company, is behind the project.

According to Terry Beia of Southtown Property Management – which controls roughly half of the commercial property in Kingsley, including the lease on 121 Brownson Ave. – Kirkwood is “putting the final touches in preparation for opening his brewpub.” Beia expects that having a downtown brewery “will be a game-changer in Kingsley,” not least because the project will also include a dynamic outdoor beer garden with food trucks, not unlike Traverse City’s Little Fleet.

A new downtown restaurant

The other new business Anderson referenced is a new and improved restaurant located at the old Kingsley Inn, a space most recently occupied by Judson Market & Restaurant. Brian McAllister of Hofbrau in Interlochen recently signed a long-term lease/option-to-purchase contract with Beia’s Southtown Property Management for the 211 E. Main St. building.

Beia said that his company is conveying the liquor license for the property to the tenants, and that McAllister and company will likely be open in early 2023.

“A good, sit-down family restaurant is something the community has asked for over the years, and we are confident that Brian is the person to lead the effort long-term,” Anderson said of the project.

Other downtown development

Both Southtown Property Management and the Kingsley DDA have other plans that could reshape downtown Kingsley.

First, Beia said that Southtown is in the process of interviewing prospective tenants for one of its key properties: the former J. Wall Diner space at 413 W Main St. Though J. Wall Diner only opened its doors in August 2021, the business was short-lived and ultimately closed down.

That closure, Beia noted, has left Kingsley lacking the old “greasy spoon” breakfast model. He says he is hopeful to find someone to take over that space.

“The only other vacant building that we have in town is the former car wash on Clark Street, across from J. Wall Diner,” he said. “Our ideal tenant for that space will be a coffee shop/bakery. The building will require significant improvements prior to move in, but I’m hopeful that we can have it leased sometime in calendar year 2023.”

While those two buildings represent the last of Southtown’s vacant properties, another Southtown asset could become available in 2023: the current home of Kingsley Lumber at 311 S. Brownson Ave.

“We are in the very early stages of working with the management of Kingsley Lumber to find a suitable upgraded property to relocate the business and free up that valuable downtown parcel,” Beia said. Kingsley Lumber is located directly adjacent to Bronson Memorial Park.

“Ideally, the Kingsley Lumber property would be better suited for a tasteful mixed-use commercial/residential development,” Beia said.

Historic Hannah Lay Building Luxury Condo

109 E Front Street | Traverse City, MI

At the beginning of 2022, Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) officially adopted a new strategic plan. The year since has been full of big news and evolutions, ranging from new degree programs to smaller strategic and master planning projects, all the way to an uber-ambitious vision for a state-of-the-art freshwater research facility right in Traverse City. Here’s a quick recap:

A new strategic plan for the NMC Foundation

In the wake of the Be What’s Possible campaign – a record-breaking fundraising effort that accumulated $40.3 million over a five-year period – the NMC Foundation is resetting itself.

The foundation, NMC’s fundraising arm, launched a new strategic planning process in July. College leaders say the new plan will reflect a changing landscape in higher education and charitable giving – one where declining enrollments render colleges increasingly reliant on donors, and one where shifting demographics push organizations to zero in on younger donors.

The Foundation is also on the hunt for a new leader, following the July departure of Executive Director Rebecca Teahen; expect the college to hire someone to fill that role this year.

The first campus master plan in a decade

NMC is in the process of drafting its first new campus master plan since 2012. The document will serve as a 20-year roadmap for utilization of campus buildings and property assets, from existing buildings to vacant properties to parking lots.

NMC Vice President of Finance and Administration Troy Kierczynski said the process will likely take most of 2023. Key questions include whether NMC needs as many parking lots or faculty offices in the era of remote learning and remote work, how the college should invest in sustainability going forward, and whether to proceed with a previously-announced plan to build a new senior living and learning center on a vacant parcel NMC owns on Eastern Avenue.

New or evolving programs

2022 was a lively year for program degree expansions, additions or tweaks. Early in the year, the aviation department launched a three-year, multi-phase strategic plan aimed at growing the program by 25 percent – a response to a global post-pandemic pilot shortage.

In June, NMC announced plans to transition its police academy to a new condensed program format. In the summer, a legislative compromise – and a $56 million appropriation in the state budget – opened the door for community colleges to partner with four-year institutions to offer bachelor’s degrees in nursing. The college has its sights set on fall 2023 to add a bachelor of science in nursing to its offerings. In November, NMC announced the introduction of a new associate of applied science degree in water quality environmental technology – a program Great Lakes Water Studies Institute Director Hans VanSumeren said will address a critical industry shortage of water quality experts. That program will also begin in fall 2023.

A freshwater research hub

News broke this summer about an ambitious partnership between NMC, Michigan Tech University, 20Fathoms, Traverse Connect, and Discovery Center & Pier to create a state-of-the-art Freshwater Research and Innovation Center on Grand Traverse Bay.

The ambitious project would bring an 85,000-square-foot, $60 million facility to Discovery Pier, creating a facility that would include not just a public pier, but also research labs, classroom and seminar space, a startup incubator, and more. The goal is to establish the Grand Traverse region as a globally recognized hub for applied freshwater innovation. The first phase of the project – focused mainly on fundraising, pier development, campus design and planning, and governance – is currently underway and will likely carry on through 2024.

In November, Discovery Center & Pier also broke ground on a project to transform its old coal dock into a fee-free, barrier-free park and hub for water-based activities. That part of the project has been in the works since 2016, when Rotary Camps and Services purchased the dock from the City of Traverse City. However, it also doubles as the first step toward a grander vision at the site.

Cherryland ably miles been stores. square space, rently

Cherryland Center stopped being the “center” of anything many years ago – arguably all the way back in 1992 when Grand Traverse Mall set up shop less than three miles away. But could this once-prosperous hub of local commerce become an epicenter of activity in 2023?

This year could be the renaissance. The Traverse City Curling Club is set to open its new curling center this month in the former Kmart building. That building has been vacant since 2017, when Sears Holdings Co. announced it was closing 49 Kmart stores. But Traverse City Curling Club finalized a deal in June to purchase the 28,000 square foot building – plus its adjacent parking lot – and convert it into a local hub for the increasingly popular sport.

The Traverse City Curling Center, which will occupy a third of the old Kmart space, is slated to open later this month, complete with a social area, warming kitch en, meeting room, curling pro shop and five sheets of dedicated curling ice. The Curl ing Center will then host league play for the TC Curling Club, learn-to-curl classes for beginners and more.

The other two-thirds of the building – approximately 55,000 square feet – are being renovated and brought up to white box standards, at which point they will be available for lease.

The Curling Club and its eventual tenants aren’t the only new fixtures coming to Cherryland Center. The old Sears building – vacant since 2018 – is also cur rently being revitalized. Ulysses Walls, an Alpena-based cardiologist, purchased the 100,000-square-foot building and is planning to open a K1 Speed indoor go kart racing franchise there.

K1 Speed is an indoor go kart racing company with more than 60 locations worldwide, including one other Michigan location in Oxford. K1 Speed specializes in 20-horsepower electric go karts that can reach speeds of up to 45 miles per hour for adult riders and 20 miles per hour for junior riders. Walls is hopeful the business will be ready to open by June.

Beyond go karts, the Traverse City K1 Speed location will host a restaurant – called the Paddock Lounge – and a video game arcade. Walls also noted that a K1 Speed fa cility only demands about 50,000 square feet of space, leaving about half of the Sears building vacant for some other use.

“My thought is to use the front part of the building for K1, and the other half for something like Sky Zone (trampoline park franchise),” he said.

Walls also floated the possibility of laser tag or indoor putt-putt golf coming to the K1 Speed facility at some point in the future.

In Walls’ view, go karts and curling are concepts that make sense for repurposing old big box buildings like the Cherryland Center. He thinks those types of indoor recreation hold the key for revitalizing the mall into a new focal point of local commercial traffic.

“These large buildings – something needs to be done with them,” Walls said. “The mall has been closed for a long time, and there’s not a need for that much retail space anymore. What do you do with something like that? Indoor entertainment and activities make the most sense. Our use goes really well with the curling club. Our hope is that whole (mall property) will become a family entertainment complex.”

Four years and four months: If all goes according to plan, that’s how much time will have elapsed between the day Michigan voters legalized recreational marijuana and the month City of Traverse City officially issues its first adult-use marijuana retail licenses.

According to City Clerk Benjamin Marentette, the City expects to have recreational cannabis licenses issued by March of 2023. It was all the way back in November of 2018 that Michigan voters cast their ballots to approve the proposal.

Those many months have been a saga of ever-evolving draft ordinances, lawsuits ... and fervent pleas from local medical marijuana retailers begging the city to hurry up in adopting adult-use rules.

The city initially opted out of embracing voter-approved recreational legalization, choosing instead to take its time in developing an ordinance that would limit and regulate adult-use operations in town. That opt-out dragged out for years, but 2022 saw light at the end of the tunnel when the city finally settled on an ordinance and opened up applications for recreational marijuana licenses.

While city commissioners worried that dozens of potential operators might apply and prompt a complicated and arduous process for picking winners and losers – something that did happen in 2019 when the City of Traverse City first opened the gates for medical marijuana – only 16 businesses submitted applications before the August 26 deadline.

As written, the city’s recreational cannabis ordinance allows for the up to 24 adult-use cannabis dispensaries within city limits. With only 16 applicants – and with those applicants spread relatively evenly across the city’s map of “overlay districts,” which caps how many licensees can be located in different zones throughout the city – the city clerk’s office does not need to proceed with a competitive scoring process for distributing licenses.

That extra step would have likely added several months to the process. Instead, Marentette told the TCBN that his office is in the process of reviewing the applications with plans to issue licenses by next spring.

Without a competitive scoring step, the general assumption is that all 16 applicants will receive licenses. That list includes all 12 businesses currently licensed as medical cannabis provisioning centers, as well as four players that would be setting up brand-new businesses in Traverse City.

Some of those existing operators –such as Skymint at 822 East Front St. – had temporarily closed their medical establishments in TC, but will likely reopen if/when they are licensed to sell adult-use. The licensing process could also bring other northern Michigan cannabis players – such as Lume Cannabis and Dunegrass – into Traverse City for the first time.

The biggest question mark might be the future of 314 Munson Ave. That address received one of the 12 (originally 13) medical marijuana permits in 2019, but never actually opened its doors as a medical provisioning center. Thanos, LLC, the company that owns the property, was included on the list of adult-use applicants that the city published in September.

However, because the initial medical marijuana licensing process included requirements for licensees to open their establishments by certain dates, there is some question about whether 314 Munson will be allowed to keep its medical permit, let alone nab an adult-use one. Marentette said his office is reviewing its status.

In any event, it is safe to say that recreational marijuana will be available for purchase at numerous stores within city limits by spring. Only time will tell just how much traffic those businesses can attract, or whether the city can support 16 marijuana retailers within its eight square miles.

VISION:

Develop a clean, modern building that will serve various retailers for years to come different groups,” he said. “Number one would be nonprofits and projects; number two would be community initiatives and networks; and number three would be providing space and support for food

In my 30 years in the business, I’ve worked with many contractors throughout the state. Burdco is one of my favorites –honest, flexible and responsive. Mike Brown is a class act.

Stoltz thinks turning Grow Benzie into more of a service-oriented organization will help make foundational things – like encouraging local donations or seeking out grant funding – easier. In turn, he’s hopeful that more buzz and financial support will enable Grow Benzie to expand its reach and impact exponentially, beginning in 2023.

“Our former model was useful, because we were connecting a lot of people with a lot of things, but it’s real hard to ask for money (with that approach),” he explained. “Coming into 2023 with an updated mission and vision, we’re in a much better position to tell our story.”

While city commissioners worried that dozens of potential operators might apply and prompt a complicated and arduous process for picking winners and losers – something that did happen

What2watch

Four years and four months: If all goes according to plan, that’s how much time will have elapsed between the day Michigan voters legalized recreational marijuana and the month City of Traverse City officially issues its first adult-use marijuana retail licenses.

2022 was a big year for Grow Benzie, the self-described rural prosperity incubator that works to assist “good people who have good ideas to have an impact for children, families, and communities in Benzie County.” es in Traverse City.

According to City Clerk Benjamin Marentette, the City expects to have recreational cannabis licenses issued by March of 2023. It was all the way back in November of 2018 that Michigan voters cast their ballots to approve the proposal.

In November, Grow Benzie was honored at the Governor’s Service Awards. The organization was named as a recipient of the 2022 Community Impact Award, being praised for its role as a partner and anchor for dozens of clubs, nonprofits and collaborative bodies in northern Michigan.

Those many months have been a saga of ever-evolving draft ordinances, lawsuits ... and fervent pleas from local medical marijuana retailers begging the city to hurry up in adopting adult-use rules.

While Grow Benzie has been around since 2008, Executive Director Josh Stoltz says he thinks the organization is just hitting its stride. The organization was initially envisioned as a community center of sorts – an epicenter to offer event space, a commercial incubator kitchen, a community garden, and other services and amenities.

Some of those existing operators –such as Skymint at 822 East Front St. – had temporarily closed their medical establishments in TC, but will likely ical provisioning center. Thanos, LLC, the company that owns the property, was included on the list of adult-use applicants that the city published in September.

However, because the initial medical limits by spring. Only time will tell just how much traffic those businesses can attract, or whether the city can support 16 marijuana retailers within its eight square miles. in 2019 when the City of Traverse City first opened the gates for medical marijuana – only 16 businesses submitted applications before the August 26 deadline.

“We already had a sewing studio, so we offered them that space, and I also said ‘I can help you recruit volunteers,’” he said.

With a potluck and some promotions, 30 volunteers showed up. Stoltz and his group continue to help with promotions and procuring fabric for the kits.

Recreational Marijuana In Traverse City

“Now they have over 60 people, they’ve made thousands of these kits, and they’ve sent them to 10 different countries around the world,” he said. “They have even developed to the point where they can pay us to rent that sewing studio space.”

As written, the city’s recreational cannabis ordinance allows for the up to 24 adult-use cannabis dispensaries within city limits. With only 16 applicants – and with those applicants spread relatively evenly across the city’s map of “overlay districts,” which caps how many licensees can be located in different zones throughout the city – the city clerk’s office does not need to proceed with a competitive scoring process for distributing licenses.

The city initially opted out of embracing voter-approved recreational legalization, choosing instead to take its time in developing an ordinance that would limit and regulate adult-use operations in town. That opt-out dragged out for years, but 2022 saw light at the end of the tunnel when the city finally settled on an ordinance and opened up applications for recreational marijuana licenses.

When Stoltz came aboard in 2015, he says he felt the space – which encompasses four acres and multiple buildings – was underutilized, and that Grow Benzie as a whole wasn’t having a big enough impact or bringing in enough funds to be sustainable.

While city commissioners worried that dozens of potential operators might apply and prompt a complicated and arduous process for picking winners and losers – something that did happen reopen if/when they are licensed to sell adult-use. The licensing process could also bring other northern Michigan cannabis players – such as Lume Cannabis and Dunegrass – into Traverse City for the first time. tion as a rural prosperity incubator, and that will be offering services for three different groups,” he said. “Number one would be nonprofits and projects; number two would be community initiatives and networks; and number three would be providing space and support for food entrepreneurs.”

Then, almost by accident, Stoltz stumbled upon a new path forward by coalescing various local groups with needs like Days for Girls, which makes reusable feminine hygiene kits for overseas girls.

That model – of partnering with existing organizations and serving as a booster to help them grow – became the raison d’être. Fast forward a few years and Stoltz said the organization has been able to take the success and impact it had with Days for Girls and “times that by 20.” He expects to see that impact continue to grow exponentially in the year and years to come, thanks in part to a brand-new strategic plan.

That extra step would have likely added several months to the process. Instead, Marentette told the TCBN that his office is in the process of reviewing the applications with plans to issue licenses by next spring.

Without a competitive scoring step, the general assumption is that all 16 applicants will receive licenses. That list includes all 12 businesses currently licensed as medical cannabis provisioning centers, as well as four players that would be setting up brand-new businesses in Traverse City.

The new plan, which Stoltz said was finally completed in November, is helping the organization to transition into a more formal service entity, helping to push local organizations out of their silos and the county toward a more collaborative mindset.

Some of those existing operators –such as Skymint at 822 East Front St. – had temporarily closed their medical establishments in TC, but will likely

“Transitioning into 2023, we’re formalizing three pillars of our organiza-

The biggest question mark might be the future of 314 Munson Ave. That address received one of the 12 (originally 13) medical marijuana permits in 2019, but never actually opened its doors as a medical provisioning center. Thanos, LLC, the company that owns the property, was included on the list of adult-use applicants that the city published in September.

Stoltz thinks turning Grow Benzie into more of a service-oriented organization will help make foundational things – like encouraging local donations or

However, because the initial medical requirements for licensees to open their establishments by certain dates, there is some question about whether 314 Munson will be allowed to keep its medical permit, let alone nab an adult-use one. Marentette said his office is reviewing its status. seeking out grant funding – easier. In turn, he’s hopeful that more buzz and financial support will enable Grow Benzie to expand its reach and impact exponentially, beginning in 2023.

“Our former model was useful, because we were connecting a lot of people with a lot of things, but it’s real hard to ask for money (with that approach),” he explained. “Coming into 2023 with an updated mission and vision, we’re in a much better position to tell our story.”

In any event, it is safe to say that recreational marijuana will be available for purchase at numerous stores within city limits by spring. Only time will tell just how much traffic those businesses can attract, or whether the city can support 16 marijuana retailers within its eight square miles.

The Arcade, one of the most iconic buildings in downtown Traverse City, will get a significant makeover in 2023.

News broke last spring that Cherry Republic was planning to buy the building and relocate its downtown Traverse City operations there. The move kicked off a domino effect of changes that will continue to reverberate throughout the New Year.

Moving to the Arcade was attractive to Cherry Republic because it offered the business a chance to co-own its own building. While Cherry Republic has had a presence in downtown TC since 2007, the company leases its current 10,000-square-foot premises at 154 E. Front St. and has never owned downtown real estate.

Through a deal with Arcade owner Terry Beia, Cherry Republic will take 50 percent ownership of the Arcade, with Beia retaining the other half. Speaking to TCBN sister publication The Ticker in May 2022, Cherry Republic owner Bob Sutherland said the business was “excited to be able to fully express our brand in a permanent space, and where our investment turns into equity, as we have done in Glen Arbor.”

Under the deal, Cherry Republic took over approximately 14,000 of the Arcade’s 16,000 square feet, with plans to renovate the building in time for a spring 2023 move. While Sutherland did not return a

Could a game-changing treatment for COVID-19 soon be one of northern Michigan’s most valuable exports? Northern Michigan’s newest innovator, Bruce Patterson, M.D., thinks so.

Patterson, formerly the director of clinical virology and co-director of the AIDS Research Center at Stanford University, is the CEO and founder of IncellDx, Inc., described as “a molecular diagnostics company dedicated to revolutionizing healthcare one cell at a time.” He’s also a brandnew northern Michigan resident, having relocated from his former home in Silicon Valley. IncellDx, which purports to be at the cutting edge of multiple types of disease diagnostics and therapeutics – including COVID-19 – is making the move with him.

As Patterson tells it, it was only a matter of time before he and his company ended up back in the Mitten. “My family has had a presence [in northern Michigan] for five generations, in terms of being here in the summer,” he said. He also got his undergraduate training at the University of Michigan, before matriculating to Northwestern University for medical school. Since 2007, he and his wife have maintained a summer home in Frankfort. With their daughter in college – and with the pandemic triggering a remote work revolution – Patterson and his wife decided to relocate.

Also involved in that decision was Casey Cowell’s Boomerang Catapult, which works actively to bring businesses to the region – particularly those that travel in the biotechnology and healthcare circles to which IncellDx belongs. Impressed by request for an update, a real estate listing for the 154 E. Front space notes that the company’s lease expires at the end of March, and covered-up windows at The Arcade suggest that renovations are underway.

Two big questions are what the revitalized Arcade building will look like when Cherry Republic takes up residence, and what will happen to the sprawling 154 E Front St. space. Between those two buildings, the face of downtown could look significantly different at the end of 2023.

Also worth watching is where former Arcade tenants go. While The Flying Noodle has a lease with options through 2030 on some of the Arcade space, most of the businesses that previously called the building home – including Art & Soul Gallery, 2nd Level Goods, Studio Anatomy, Bayfront Scooters, Yellow Umbrella Vintage, and Black Candle Tattoo – had to move out by September 7.

Several of those businesses have already landed at new locations. Bayfront Scooters moved to the Civic Center, for instance, while 2nd Level Goods opened a new location at 2751 N US-31 South, next door to Red Lobster.

Perhaps the biggest question mark on the relocation front, though, is Studio Anatomy, which has yet to resurface. That business – which included a recording studio, a music venue, art studio workspaces, and a vinyl record shop – occu-

Boomerang Catapult’s ability to bring “people from all walks of life” to northern Michigan – and by Traverse City’s growing status as a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship – Patterson decided to bring his business with him.

“Really, we’d split our business into two parts anyway – diagnostics and therapeutics,” Patterson said. “And it just made sense for the therapeutic side of our business to be based someplace like Traverse City – a place that’s trying to promote life science and biotechnology, and to do it in such a beautiful place. It’s a spot where we can do great science in an inspiring setting.” pied the basement of The Arcade for 10 years. Brian Chamberlain, who owns Studio Anatomy, told The Ticker in May he was considering several options for his business’s new digs, including a space at Cherryland Center.

What exactly is the science of IncellDx? Per Patterson’s bio, that part of the tale actually starts decades ago, when, in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, he “began investigating cellular reservoirs of HIV-1 using molecular and in situ technology patented in his laboratory.” Patterson eventually “determined that enough HIV virus was present in infected individuals to account for the massive destruction of the immune system.” That research, which was published in the renowned scientific journal Science in 1993, played a crucial role in the scientific community’s understanding of how HIV and AIDS affected the immune system, and how they could be detected and diagnosed at the cellular level.

That same passion for molecular diagnostics eventually led to the establishment of IncellDx, which Patterson founded in 2009.

Speaking to the TCBN in December, Chamberlain said that “things are just starting to come together” for Studio Anatomy – though he noted that finding a big enough space to host all of the business’s functions has proved challenging. He recently leased space for Eugene’s Record Co-op at 1036 Barlow St., across the street from the Sail Inn. Chamberlain plans to incorporate “a couple art studio work spaces” into the building as well. Renovations are underway to get the store ready for a targeted February 1 opening date.

Meanwhile, Chamberlain says he remains on the hunt for a larger, separate building to accommodate the recording studio and performance venue of Studio Anatomy and is eyeing the former 4Front Credit Union training center building on Hastings Street, and possibly the old Younkers or remaining space next to the Curling Club at Cherryland.

This past summer, Chamberlain says the group “fell short” on its “Save the Studio” fundraising campaign to establish a spot at Cherryland, but he’s confident he will be able to continue Studio Anatomy in a new location in 2023.

IncellDx focuses this technology on addressing “critical life-threatening diseases,” including HIV/ AIDS, cancer, hepatitis, organ transplant infections, and now, COVID-19. On the latter front, IncellDx claims that it has developed a diagnostic test that can not only detect long-haul COVID in patients, but also inform a treatment plan and show patients that the treatment plan is having an impact.

“We were the first to identify long COVID,” Patterson said. “We were the first to identify what the effects are on the immune system from long COVID. We were the first to identify what might be causing long COVID. And then we came up with a therapeutic for long COVID that looks very promising.”

Patterson noted that IncellDx’s diagnostics for long COVID have already “been commercialized all over.”“So, we’re already testing a lot of patients who think they have the symptoms of long COVID, and we’re using those test results and algorithms to decide what drugs they might respond to. And they are responding. The next plan is to take those drugs through the FDA and get them approved.”

Speaking to the TCBN, Patterson underlined the importance of the medical community focusing its energies on finding an effective treatment for long COVID and finding it fast.

“Economic analyses show what a

The brewery component will be a new feature of the Studio Anatomy model, as Chamberlain said he is “working in tandem with a local brewery on the new performance venue to determine how much space we need and the right location in town.” disaster long COVID could prove to be for the United States,” Patterson continued. “It’s estimated that 140 million people worldwide may have it, including 20-30 million Americans... That’s really the new epidemic, to me, because it doesn’t matter how mild the infection is. We’ve seen long COVID with the omicron variants, even though they usually don’t have as severe an infection as the original alpha variant. So, long COVID is a big problem and it’s going to be for a while. But we’ve found similarities between long COVID and patients who have chronic Lyme disease or chronic fatigue syndrome. So those similarities are what we’re attacking with these new drug combinations.”

Chamberlain is hopeful that he will be able to have Studio Anatomy up and running at least partially by July of 2023, and the entire operation running by the end of 2023.

If IncellDx does prove to be on to something with its unique approach, Traverse City will now be a part of that story. Patterson said that “it’s all very preliminary” still, in terms of the company’s overall plans in northern Michigan, but that “an office, a laboratory, and manufacturing operations are all things that are under consideration right now.”

Somewhere along the line, Traverse City’s FishPass project turned into a never-ending saga.

Details about the project first came to light in 2018, when it was unveiled by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission as an experimental way to pass desirable fish species up the Boardman River while keeping out invasive species.

The idea was to create a world-class technological system fish biologists around the world could use to evaluate different fish sorting strategies. Traverse City was selected from a list of a dozen potential sites, with plans aimed at replacing the deteriorating Union Street Dam in downtown TC with the innovative FishPass design.

Fast-forward more than four years and FishPass has yet to be built. Most of that delay is the result of a lawsuit, which has now kept the project stalled for nearly two years. In 2020, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded Traverse City’s own Spence Brothers Construction the contract to build FishPass for $19.3 million. Construction was supposed to start in January 2021, with spring 2023 slated for project completion. But a lawsuit from city resident Rick Buckhalter halted the project and it has yet to pick up steam again.

Buckhalter and his attorneys argued

2023 will mark 18 years since the Traverse City Film Festival (TCFF) made its debut in July 2005. Fittingly for an event that has nearly been around long enough to be a legal adult, northern Michigan’s annual showcase of “Just Great Movies” seems likely to enter a new chapter in 2023.

TCFF technically started a fresh era in 2022, not only making a post-pandemic comeback after two years without a festival, but also bringing in a new festival director, board and team. Despite a well-received return, TCFF 2022 does seem likely to be an outlier, for several reasons.

For one thing, Johanna Evans, who helmed the 2022 film festival as its interim director, is unlikely to return. Evans, who serves as managing director for the American Resiliency Project and editorial analyst for Disney, told TCBN sister publication The Ticker in June that she only intended to serve one season with TCFF. Evans’ LinkedIn page also now lists TCFF as a past contract position, with a six-month engagement of April-September 2022.

TCFF 2022 was also unorthodox compared to other past versions of the festival due to its layout. Specifically, rather than sticking to its usual list of venues in and around town, TCFF screened many its 2022 films at the AMC Cherry Blossom theater. Evans told The Ticker that initial plans for TCFF 2022 had involved returning to that the Union Street Dam is considered city parkland and therefore cannot be “disposed” of without a vote of city residents. Furthermore, Buckhalter contended that the major, long-lasting changes that would be made to the park as part of FishPass would constitute a disposal of city parkland.

Due to the lawsuit, Judge Thomas Power immediately issued a temporary injunction that delayed the project start date; Power later ruled in favor of Buckhalter.

In October, the Michigan Court of Appeals overturned Power’s ruling, determining the property in question continues to be used for valid park purposes under the project and that FishPass does not qualify as a disposal of parkland. Therefore, the city does not need to pursue a public vote to move forward.

That ruling effectively frees the city and its partners from the injunction that has been blocking FishPass since early 2021 – not that picking up exactly where things left off is a realistic option. In October, City Attorney Lauren TribleLaucht told TCBN sister publication The Ticker that there would likely need to be “quite a bit of work…behind the scenes to understand how the agreement might need to be updated.”

Everything from construction costs to funding sources to project contracts to buildout timelines will need to be revisited. City of Traverse City staff will eventually bring an update to city commissioners about how FishPass will move forward, but Trible-Laucht warned that “it might take us awhile to get prepared with all that information.” all of the festival’s traditional venues –including Lars Hockstad Auditorium at Central Grade School, the City Opera House, and Milliken Auditorium – but that a shortened timeline for putting the festival together, plus skyrocketing gas prices, supply chain issues, and labor shortages made those plans impossible.

Regardless of lingering questions and complexities, 2023 will likely be the year that FishPass finally spawns.

As a result, TCFF took place across just three venues in 2022: the AMC, the State Theatre and the Bijou by the Bay.

Plans for TCFF 2023 have yet to be formally announced and TCFF Founder Michael Moore did not return requests for comment on what the festival might look like. But with the State and suit from city resident Rick Buckhalter halted the project and it has yet to pick up steam again.

Bijou now seemingly back in their full pre-pandemic groove, the question is whether TCFF 2023 will also look a bit more like the festivals of 2005-2019. Look for TCFF to hire a new full-time festival director this year, and for the festival to find its way back into at least some of its trademark venues.

Buckhalter and his attorneys argued

What2watch

Ticker that there would likely need to be “quite a bit of work…behind the scenes to understand how the agreement might need to be updated.” to buildout timelines will need to be revisited. City of Traverse City staff will eventually bring an update to city commissioners about how FishPass will move

Regardless of lingering questions and complexities, 2023 will likely be the year that FishPass finally spawns.

Somewhere along the line, Traverse City’s FishPass project turned into a never-ending saga.

2023 will mark 18 years since the Traverse City Film Festival (TCFF) made its debut in July 2005. Fittingly for an event that has nearly been around long enough to be a legal adult, northern Michigan’s annual showcase of “Just Great Movies” seems likely to enter a new chapter in 2023.

Details about the project first came to light in 2018, when it was unveiled by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission as an experimental way to pass desirable fish species up the Boardman River while keeping out invasive species.

TCFF technically started a fresh era in 2022, not only making a post-pandemic comeback after two years without a festival, but also bringing in a new festival director, board and team. Despite a well-received return, TCFF 2022 does seem likely to be an outlier, for several reasons.

The idea was to create a world-class technological system fish biologists around the world could use to evaluate different fish sorting strategies. Traverse City was selected from a list of a dozen potential sites, with plans aimed at replacing the deteriorating Union Street Dam in downtown TC with the innovative FishPass design.

For one thing, Johanna Evans, who helmed the 2022 film festival as its interim director, is unlikely to return. Evans, who serves as managing director for the American Resiliency Project and editorial analyst for Disney, told TCBN sister publication The Ticker in June that she only intended to serve one season with TCFF. Evans’ LinkedIn page also now lists TCFF as a past contract position, with a six-month engagement of April-September 2022.

Fast-forward more than four years and FishPass has yet to be built. Most of that delay is the result of a lawsuit, which has now kept the project stalled for nearly two years. In 2020, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded Traverse City’s own Spence Brothers Construction the contract to build FishPass for $19.3 million. Construction was supposed to start in January 2021, with spring 2023 slated for project completion. But a lawsuit from city resident Rick Buckhalter halted the project and it has yet to pick up steam again.

Buckhalter and his attorneys argued

TCFF 2022 was also unorthodox compared to other past versions of the festival due to its layout. Specifically, rather than sticking to its usual list of venues in and around town, TCFF screened many its 2022 films at the AMC Cherry Blossom theater. Evans told The Ticker that initial plans for TCFF 2022 had involved returning to things left off is a realistic option. In October, City Attorney Lauren TribleLaucht told TCBN sister publication The Ticker that there would likely need to be “quite a bit of work…behind the scenes to understand how the agreement might need to be updated.” all of the festival’s traditional venues –including Lars Hockstad Auditorium at Central Grade School, the City Opera House, and Milliken Auditorium – but that a shortened timeline for putting the festival together, plus skyrocketing gas prices, supply chain issues, and labor shortages made those plans impossible.

Everything from construction costs to funding sources to project contracts to buildout timelines will need to be revisited. City of Traverse City staff will eventually bring an update to city commissioners about how FishPass will move

As a result, TCFF took place across just three venues in 2022: the AMC, the State Theatre and the Bijou by the Bay.

Plans for TCFF 2023 have yet to be formally announced and TCFF Founder Michael Moore did not return requests for comment on what the festival might look like. But with the State and forward, but Trible-Laucht warned that “it might take us awhile to get prepared with all that information.”

Regardless of lingering questions and complexities, 2023 will likely be the year that FishPass finally spawns.

Bijou now seemingly back in their full pre-pandemic groove, the question is whether TCFF 2023 will also look a bit more like the festivals of 2005-2019. Look for TCFF to hire a new full-time festival director this year, and for the festival to find its way back into at least some of its trademark venues.