Co-Location Proposal Spins Carnegie RFP Process in New Direction

Traverse City commissioners are set to discuss two tenant proposals for the city-owned Carnegie Building on Sixth Street from Crooked Tree Arts Center and Traverse Area District Library tonight (Monday). However, a “tremendous amount of feedback” has prompted city and library staff to propose a new approach: co-locating the two entities in the building, according to City Manager Benjamin Marentette. Crooked Tree staff, meanwhile, have expressed significant concerns about the proposal and are asking commissioners to continue the request-for-proposals (RFP) process as designed.

The city is using an RFP process to find tenants for both the Carnegie Building and the Bijou by the Bay/Con Foster building in Clinch Park. The process has been bumpy to date, including delays caused by a personal tragedy experienced by Deputy City Manager Deb Allen – who was overseeing the RFPs – and communication miscues with applicants. The Bijou proposals were originally planned to be discussed tonight along with Carnegie, but due to “other pressing issues” those have been moved to the commission’s May 4 agenda, according to City Director of Communications & Strategic Initiatives Colleen Paveglio.

Crooked Tree and Traverse Area District Library (TADL) both submitted proposals for Carnegie by a February deadline. Crooked Tree, whose current lease in the building is up in October, aims to continue its decade-long stint offering community art galleries and programming in the space. TADL is proposing to open a new city museum and community center, launching a special collections library and managing the city’s Con Foster collection – currently in storage in the Carnegie basement.

Marentette says the city received so much feedback “from people advocating for one proposal or another” that the idea of accommodating both entities at Carnegie emerged. TADL Library Director Michele Howard says she helped draft a proposal for how that could look. TADL would seek to occupy one of Carnegie’s smaller gallery spaces year-round, using it – among other things – to display some of the Con Foster collection. For one month of the year – likely September or October – TADL would take over all of the galleries on the older side of the building for a display on local history. TADL would also take over management of the Con Foster collection and its basement storage space.

“What I love about the plan is that if we can share the space, I think it’s a win-win-win for everyone,” Howard says.

Crooked Tree is less enthusiastic about the concept. Managing Director Kristi Wodek says the proposal “came out of nowhere” and wasn’t crafted with input from Crooked Tree but rather presented to them as “this is what we should do.” While Wodek says Crooked Tree partners with numerous organizations throughout the year and is open to collaboration, the group has several concerns with the co-location proposal.

Wodek says losing significant building space for several weeks out of the year – including potential set-up and tear-down time for the history display – could mean needing to furlough staff and missing out on revenue streams that help keep Crooked Tree operating. There are also security requirements for national touring exhibits, which means having another entity with year-round access to the building could jeopardize those shows, she says. Wodek is also unclear on the financial terms of the deal and how the lease will be structured. She says losing space and having to shrink programming when Crooked Tree has been on a steady trajectory of growth could “negatively impact” its standing as an organization and its relationship with donors.

Wodek and Crooked Tree Executive Director Angela Morris met with Marentette virtually Wednesday and “were given less than 24 hours to say if we’re open to collaborating” before a commission packet deadline Thursday, Morris says. “That’s a really big decision, and not a quick decision…we have 17 board members we have to run it by.”

In a memo to commissioners, Marentette acknowledged the late meeting with Crooked Tree as well the fact that “the concept of joint occupancy is a significant shift in what had been contemplated.” Accordingly, he offered to delay the agenda item to May 4 to give Crooked Tree more time to consider. However, Crooked Tree “declined and has indicated their desire is to move the current RFP process forward, consistent with the established timeline and expectations,” he wrote.

“They did note, however, that they are open to continued dialogue but desire direction from the commission,” Marentette continued. “(Crooked Tree) has also asked for consideration of a lease extension should the decision-making process be delayed much further, as their current lease expires October 31…I think their request is reasonable.”

While Crooked Tree’s RFP originally had a higher score than TADL’s – earning 120/120 points compared to TADL’s 114/120 – TADL’s score has since been adjusted to also earn 120/120. Marentette explains that’s because TADL was docked for not having a credit score, but it’s a taxpayer-funded entity that doesn’t even have a traditional credit score. Howard pointed that out and asked for reconsideration. “TADL has an excellent bond rating, which I see as their equivalent of a perfect credit score under that criteria and therefore should receive maximum consideration,” Marentette explains of the adjustment.

Wodek notes that all of Crooked Tree’s planning and programming, including grant applications, has “come to an absolute halt” while the organization waits to learn its fate in the Carnegie Building. More delays – such as referring the co-location proposal to an ad hoc committee to hammer out, an approach proposed by Howard – means an even longer period of uncertainty for the organization and its employees, she says. Morris notes Crooked Tree took the RFP process “seriously and invested a lot of time and resources into our proposal and what the next five years would look like. We’d just like to get a clear understanding from the commission on Monday on what the next steps are and ideally a decision. It’s hard to plan for the future with so many unknowns.”

Howard expresses sympathy for Crooked Tree’s position. However, she also notes that the Carnegie Building is a public asset, not a private one. “It’s common when you’re responsible for taxpayer dollars to make sure it’s in the best interest of the community who’s in (the building) and using it,” she says. Howard says TADL is open to working through funding and security concerns, noting that items in the Con Foster collection are also “irreplaceable just like artwork.” Rather than an RFP process that is by its nature “adversarial, since you have to pick a winner,” Howard says co-location is an approach “that would make so many people happy.”

“We’re all wonderful organizations, and we all care deeply about our community,” she says. “Why are we fighting each other instead of working together?”