The Traverse City Downtown Development Authority (DDA) is preparing to launch two significant new programs: a long-discussed new retail incubator, which is targeting an April opening but will host a holiday pop-up, and a composting program for downtown restaurants. Details about both programs were revealed at the DDA’s most recent meeting.

Retail Incubator
A concept the DDA has been working on since 2021 to open a retail incubator downtown – a facility to address the gap between pop-ups and permanent stores and offer a lower-cost option for start-up entrepreneurs to test out brick-and-mortar retail ideas downtown – is ready to move forward.
 
Project advisor Nick Beadleston told DDA board members the incubator – called the Cass Street Marketplace, located in 1,900 square feet of newly renovated space in the Keen building next to The Pub on Cass Street (pictured) – will open in April 2024. Though the DDA initially hoped to open the year-round marketplace before the end of 2023, listening sessions with approximately a dozen applicants indicated that even if tenants received a sales bump during the holidays, they’d be in a “challenging” position to make it through the slow January to April period.

Instead, the incubator will host a holiday pop-up shopping event with a handful of vendors on December 16 as a “softer entry” into the market, Beadleston said. Another pop-up could occur in early 2024 in conjunction with Valentine’s Day or the Traverse City Comedy Fest. The slow rollout will help introduce the space to the public, allow for additional interior renovations, and give tenants a chance to work out any kinks before the start of the busy tourism season, Beadleston said.

Project documents show a wide range of potential tenants, including stained glass restoration/custom stained glass work, handcrafted Peruvian goods, marine upholstery, organic cotton textile products for infants, and a variety of lifestyle apparel and fashion brands. “Some of the biggest takeaways from that group are just how diverse really in every sense of the world our group of applicants is,” Beadleston said, adding that some potential tenants are  first-time entrepreneurs while others have owned previous businesses. 

The DDA is still finalizing the tenant list and is “actively recruiting” more applicants, according to Christie Minervini. Minervini, who previously owned Sanctuary Handcrafted Goods, is serving as a retail consultant on the project. Listening sessions revealed the importance to tenants of having a “group support system,” Minervini said. “Several of these individuals have been working on their own, and they said it's lonely and it's hard and it's hard to get motivated. They're really looking for that collaboration that can happen in the incubator.” 

The DDA aims to help tenants “advance beyond their current capabilities and move into longer-term environments or real estate arrangements which help them with their growing needs,” allowing new retail businesses to move into the incubator after them and “begin the cycle anew,” project documents state.

Composting
A new composting program could launch downtown by next summer. DDA COO Harry Burkholder said the DDA is in discussion with SEEDS – which is working on a larger regional composting initiative, as well as a partnership with the City of Traverse City – on a proposal to “create a pilot-scale education and hauling composting program for 10-20 downtown restaurants.” Under the proposal, SEEDS would “assist with administrative, outreach, education, promotional, and implementation services,” according to Burkholder.

Burkholder said one positive is that it would generate hard metrics by which to gauge success, such as how many “tons of food are we actually not putting in landfills, how much methane gas are we not releasing into the atmosphere.” Organic wastes – including food waste – generate methane, “one of the most significant contributors to short-term climate change,” Burkholder wrote. He noted that Grand Traverse County “alone generates 19,000 tons of organic waste annually.” DDA Chair Gabe Schneider said the project shows that DDA goals are aligned with city commission goals, citing the importance of addressing climate change to both bodies.

DDA board member Pete Kirkwood said that if the organization could “prove the viability” of composting in the downtown district, “it seems to me that it might be possible to expand it to serve the city and the region. We could be sort of a pilot or a beacon for other communities.” Burkholder agreed. “I think we can kind of help write the guidebook for other communities to do this,” he said.