Amidst protracted lease negotiations over two city-owned buildings, Traverse City Mayor Michael Estes says he wants the city to take a more active role in determining how its properties are used – and by whom.

Estes has proposed city commissioners negotiating a lease agreement with Crooked Tree Arts Center and History Center of Traverse City for the city-owned Carnegie Building explore other options for the site, including moving the offices of the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and/or Grand Traverse County Commission on Aging (COA) to the premises. Both organizations are already housed in city-owned buildings: the DDA at 303 East State Street, COA at 520 West Front Street (the city and county have a space-sharing agreement.)

Estes says the move could free up prime space at the DDA offices that could potentially command a high lease rate, while the aging COA building could be demolished and its property used for housing or commercial development instead. Both parcels are valuable pieces of real estate that could eventually be returned to city tax rolls instead of housing government staff, Estes contends.

“We could still accommodate the limited needs of the Arts Center and the History Center (at Carnegie),” says Estes. “But neither group wants to be responsible for the building...and they don't need all of the space. As landlords, we need to be looking at what we'd like to see there, not just what the demands of the tenants are.”

Commissioner and ad hoc committee member Jeanine Easterday says it's “worth considering” other ideas for the Carnegie Building, but questions whether there's enough square footage to house Crooked Tree, the History Center and one or more government agencies at the site. “We wouldn't want to rush anything through,” she says, noting the proposed lease agreements with Crooked Tree and the History Center are relatively short-term and could buy the city time to consider other options for the future. “If we can find an income stream for the short term and figure out what works for everyone...we could do a serious inventory of our properties and see if there's anything we want to move around.”

Commissioner Ross Richardson, also on the ad hoc, says the committee “may discuss the possibility of whether there's a more public use for the building than what we're considering,” but doesn't yet know if that should include moving the DDA or COA.

City Manager Jered Ottenwess tells The Ticker the idea “has potential” but “would take a lot of coordination.”

DDA Executive Director Rob Bacigalupi says the organization would “be happy to talk about the pros and cons” of moving if commissioners pursued the idea, but declined to elaborate.

Estes, acknowledging the concept is "just one idea," says his larger goal is to ensure the city isn't overlooking potential uses or tenants for the Carnegie Building – something he contends occurred with another city-owned property, 517 Wellington Street.

Safe Harbor of Grand Traverse has been approved to operate an emergency homeless shelter at that site, but ongoing lease negotiations have become mired in debate over whether the city or Safe Harbor should pay for mold remediation and other repairs. Discussions have also recently expanded to include the possibility of Safe Harbor buying the property outright with a deed restriction.

Estes notes other interested buyers were told the property “wasn't for sale” last year while Safe Harbor was still applying for its SLUP, and that city commissioners never authorized staff to negotiate a sale of the building – only its lease. He expects the issue will come back before the city commission in February.

“We proceeded with that whole process way too quickly, which is why we're running into these issues now,” says Estes. “My hope is that that we don't do that with the Carnegie Building or any other piece of city property. We need to look at all the potential uses...and determine what would be best for the city."