More than a year after Traverse City officials approved zoning changes aimed at drawing new development to the Union Street corridor in Old Town, storefronts and lots remain empty awaiting the district’s next chapter.

A triangle of high-profile – but currently vacant - properties in the 400 block of South Union Street (pictured above) hold the key to kick-starting the area. Two adjoining lots at 418 and 420, along with the former Blue Tractor Grill space on the east side of street and the former Maxbauer’s Market building nearby – are generating inquiries and potential development interest. But property owners say those plans are still percolating, and they aren’t ready to disclose what might happen next.

“I’ve talked to a variety of people over the last year,” says Tom Deering, owner of the Maxbauer’s Market property. The building at 407 S. Union St. has been empty for more than two years since the former operator relocated to space on South Airport Road in Garfield Township. The Deering family is looking for a new tenant.

Deering suspects that a glut of commercial property space available in the Grand Traverse area is a factor in the soft market.

“People are buying a lot of stuff online and they don’t go out and shop as much anymore,” Deering says.

He’d like to see the property remain a meat market serving the adjoining Central neighborhood, continuing the efforts of his father, Barney Deering, who operated Maxbauer’s since the early 1960s and later his cousin Mike who ran the store after his dad’s retirement.

“We’re trying to be patient and let this thing work out, and respect my father’s wishes,” Deering says. “We’ll see what happens. Somebody might come along with something totally different, so we’ll see where it goes.”

The city rezoned the 300 and 400 blocks of Union Street in July of 2025 to the C-4a (Regional Center) zoning district. That was spurred in part by development plans for lots at 420 and 418 S. Union Street, the site of vacant lot and a former hair salon that’s relocated across the street. The zoning changed lowered required setbacks in the district, reduced parking requirements, and increased allowable building heights to 45 feet if one of the floors was for residential use. Building heights are limited to 30 feet without the residential component.

Those lots, which according to city tax records sold for $1,135,000, are owned by Old Town Commons LLC, a limited liability corporation based in Plymouth, MI. Local commercial real estate broker Alex MacKenzie is its registered agent. When the property was rezoned, plans for the site included ground floor commercial space and up to 24 residential units on the upper floors.

But more recently, MacKenzie declined to discuss specific development plans for the site, nor a timeline for the project.

“We’re trying to figure out the market,” MacKenzie said last week, although he did confirm that owners will move ahead with demolition of the former hair salon.

Officials at the city’s Downtown Development Authority say reviving those vacant properties are critical to injecting new economic vitality in the Old Town district.

“That block (on Union Street) between Seventh and Eighth (streets) really needs another anchor tenant,” DDA Executive Director Harry Burkholder says. “One of the best things that end of downtown has is proximity to the (Old Town) parking deck…to have that parking is just a tremendous asset.”

Burkholder also says that the completion of the ongoing FishPass project on the Boardman/Ottaway River and pending upgrades to the Rotary Square property – both along Union Street a couple blocks north of Old Town – will also create a “bridge” to the Old Town district. He expects that will generate more commercial and residential interest in that area.

“That (Old Town) neighborhood also connects so well with the Central Neighborhood,” Burkholder continues. “That proximity I think provides an opportunity find the right business that feels more like it caters to Traverse City, versus just another tourist spot.”

Ongoing public infrastructure upgrades in Old Town are also on the drawing board. Burkholder says the DDA plans to replace the deteriorating intersection at Seventh and Union streets within the next two years, along with some boardwalk construction associated with FishPass. But the Old Town Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district is the smaller of the two TIF districts downtown, and only generates about $1 million a year. The Old Town TIF district is in place until 2041.

“You have to save up a couple years to do a major infrastructure project,” Burkholder says.

Despite the ongoing commercial vacancies, Burkholder says Old Town is seeing growth. The return of workers to Hagerty insurance earlier this year that brought back back hundreds of employees who had been working remotely has had a positive economic impact. That’s been accompanied by businesses coming in to the district including a new Bay Bread Co. location in the Hagerty building, and the opening of the 9&10 News television studio along Cass Street across from Hagerty.

“It’s seen a lot of growth, but it has the potential for more,” Burkholder says.

Jon Carlson, co-owner of the Blue Tractor Barbecue space at 423 S. Union that closed last August after almost 20 years, says he’s “speaking to several parties” about sale or lease of the building, or a partnership on a new restaurant venue. Carlson says he’s hoping to have something in place by spring of 2027.

“We love this area, and with Hagerty back it feels ready for rebirth,” Carlson said in an email to The Ticker.

Other are also bullish on Old Town’s future.

“It’s got the potential to be a mini-version of Front Street, without all the congestion,” says Scott Hardy, a local real estate agent who lobbied for the Union Street rezoning and is a former chair of the DDA Board. “It has the potential to service its own neighborhood and reach what it wants to be.”