A new hotel planned for a long-vacant hole on West Front Street will be a Hilton Tapestry Collection property, according to development group Great Lakes Capital. The $60 million-plus project, which will break ground next month, is targeted to open in summer 2028. The Ticker has the details on that and other downtown news, including a prominent Front Street building hitting the market and a new family-friendly art and music studio opening on West Front Street.

Hilton Tapestry Collection
After receiving site plan approval from Traverse City planning commissioners last year for a new four-story hotel to be built at 124 and 290 West Front Street, Great Lakes Capital is ready to break ground on what will be a new Hilton Tapestry Collection hotel.

Hotel Avec, as the property will be called, will bring new life to one of downtown’s last undeveloped parcels located between the former Traverse City Record-Eagle and J&S Hamburg buildings. Great Lakes Capital has worked for years to bring a development to the site. The Hilton Tapestry Collection is a brand of “independent boutique hotels, each rich in cultural charm and deeply connected to its destination,” according to Hilton’s website. There are two other Tapestry Collection hotels listed in Michigan – one in Lexington and one in Holland.

Great Lakes Capital Managing Director and Principal Kristen Sawdon says the firm initially considered a Hilton Curio Collection partnership for the site, but ultimately felt Tapestry was a better fit. “Hilton felt the same way,” she says. “Hilton is so excited about this project. It’s one of their top projects in the country right now, as it is for us.”

Hotel Avec will have 114 keys, which is a drop from the 137 rooms listed in project plans last year. Sawdon says that’s because the hotel’s floodplain along the Boardman-Ottaway River required a last-minute redesign. The 114 rooms were the maximum that could fit on the site, but Sawdon says that also ended up being a better number for the Traverse City market. Particularly after this spring’s flooding, Sawdon says the hotel – which will have parking below the first floor – has been designed with high water levels in mind.

Hotel Avec will have a first-floor full-service restaurant, a French bistro café, and a rooftop speakeasy bar with views of Grand Traverse Bay. Each of the food-and-beverage offerings will come from Prime Hospitality Group brands, which Great Lakes Capital features at its other hotel properties. The hotel will also have 3,000 square feet of event and meeting space. Sawdon says the plan is to break ground in mid to late July with a nearly two-year construction period planned, putting Hotel Avec on track for a summer 2028 grand opening.

250 East Front Street
A prominent downtown building at 250 East Front Street has hit the market. 

The building – owned by 250 Front LLC and developed and managed by Miller Snowden Development Group – currently houses Chase Bank, Sorellina, and Slate. The .75-acre property has 66,720 of rentable square feet and views from its upper levels of Grand Traverse Bay. The building was constructed in 1969 and added on to in 2017, with $8 million invested in improvements over the last decade.

Vice President Jordan Gasper of JLL, which represents the listing, says the property has already seen “strong interest from a range of prospective buyers. The building is 100 percent leased across three tenants, which provides a solid occupancy foundation.” As previously reported in The Ticker, Hagerty vacated the building in 2022 but still has a lease on its space through 2029.

That unused space “may create a compelling opportunity for an owner occupier looking to utilize the space directly, or for a group interested in redeveloping a portion into multifamily,” says Gasper. “It's that flexibility that's driving a lot of the conversation we're having with the market right now.” A specific listing price isn’t stated, as that figure is expected to be negotiated with any buyer.

Let’s Play! Studio
A new “kid-friendly art and music studio” is opening its doors at 531 West Front Street (the former Georgina’s building next to The Nail Bar).

Led by co-founder and art teacher Laura Adams and co-founder and music teacher Miriam Pico, the hands-on center is billed as a space that brings process art – a movement that emphasizes the act of creating over the finished product – together with music and community “in one welcoming environment.” Let’s Play! Studio, which held a soft opening this week and will host live music on its patio this Sunday from 5pm-7pm with Pico and Ryan Younce, will specialize in classes for children 0-12 years old starting in July. Examples include Preschool Process Art, Sunrise Studio, Toddler Art & Play, Little Kid and Big Kid open studios, and Music & Movement classes geared toward both babies and children under five.

Typical class sizes will be 15 children max (up to 18-20 for art) plus parents. Sign-ups, including membership and class packages, will be available soon on the studio’s website.