Socks Construction, run by Dave Socks and cousins Charlie and John Socks, is poised to start work on Old Town Center, a retail/residential complex to be built on the busy northwest corner of Eighth and Cass Streets. The development will combine 4,000 square feet of retail space with seven residential condominiums, each priced in the $350,000 - $399,000 range. Work will begin this fall, with completion set for nine to 10 months later.

Just a block to the west on Eighth St., the company is putting the finishing touches on the first phase of Ivy Terrace, an eight-condo building in front of the Old Town parking deck. A walkway links the building with the parking deck. Three of the units, priced starting at $199,000, have already sold.

By the end of August, the company will begin work on phase two of Ivy Terrace, a twin condo project just to the west of the current site.

“We’re always looking for opportunities here [downtown], ” says Dave Socks, who moved to the region from metro Detroit in 2002 and started the company a year later. “If it’s a good fit for us, we’re interested. Our goal has always been to build in such a way that connects with the local community, allowing us to create places where people feel connected to each other and to the natural environment.”

The company’s first project in the area was The Cottages at Morgan Farms in Elmwood Township, where they continue to build homes. Socks crews are also busy working at Westport, a development of six, single family homes along Boardman Lake off Fourteenth Street, as well as two homes in Eagle View, on a hill overlooking Copper Ridge.

But downtown TC has become Socks’ calling card. Within just a three-block radius, the company will soon have completed Ivy Terrace phases one and two, the Regatta Building at Eighth and Cass, Old Town Center across the street, and 309 Cass to the north, which houses their company offices, condos, and MBank.

Socks credits a lot of the company’s growing success to its team of architects, tradesmen and realtors – and a solid working relationship with city officials.

“We’ve had great support,” he says. “They give us great input and we take their advice into consideration when we do the design. We love downtown Traverse City!"