After 87 years in business on West Front Street, iconic downtown diner J&S Hamburg will serve up its final omelets, shakes, and burgers this Sunday. The Ticker speaks with owner Cindy Warner about what comes next (hint: another community gathering space is on the horizon) plus shares other business updates from across the region – including a new indoor sports complex coming to Woodmere, multiple coffee shop and retail store changes, and more.

J&S Hamburg
Cindy Warner and her staff are preparing for an emotional last week as they wind down operations at J&S Hamburg at 302 West Front Street. Warner, who has owned the business for 21 years and is just the third owner since the diner opened in 1938, says it’s been “very difficult” preparing for the restaurant’s last day Sunday. “It’s not even bittersweet,” she says. “It’s a huge sadness.”

The closure is necessitated by several factors. The nearly century-old building is “literally falling down” and needs to be rebuilt, Warner says. She listed the site for sale in 2023 but says almost all the interest came “from people out of the area who candidly weren’t familiar with doing business in Traverse City and had pie-in-the-sky ideas that would’ve taken years to accomplish.” Warner didn’t want the property tied up indefinitely in contingent deals; she also hoped for a project that would fit in well downtown.

Ultimately, she decided to redevelop the site herself. Demolition on the property is set to begin in the coming weeks, with construction on a new building planned for next spring (pictured, rendering). Warner plans to build eight condos on the upper floors – one of which she’ll occupy – with enclosed ground-floor parking. Linda Schaub at Real Estate One will represent the new three-bedroom, two-bathroom units. Also planned is a new ground-floor wine bar and retail shop facing Front Street. Noting that other nearby wine sellers close by 6pm, Warner hopes to provide late-evening retail sales and a neighborhood gathering spot for a glass of wine and charcuterie after work. The project is targeted for a June 2027 opening.

Warner says putting J&S into the new building wasn’t feasible for several reasons, including equipment costs and ventilation issues with eight residential units directly overhead. She looked for alternate locations, as did staff – Warner says she offered to gift the business to employees if they could reopen it elsewhere. However, real estate prices ultimately made the numbers impossible. “We’ve done every scenario you could imagine to move it and have it stay in existence,” says Warner. J&S Hamburg will remain open on South Airport Road and in Kingsley – those locations are separately owned by Jason and Tiffany McQueer – while customers can say goodbye to the downtown staff this week and still see Warner in the new building. “I’m not going anywhere,” she says.

Anchor Point Athletics
Parents and athletes looking for a year-round, indoor sports facility will soon have an answer near downtown Traverse City. Kevin and Melissa Olds are planning to open Anchor Point Athletics – a 5,000-square-foot multi-sport training facility with fresh turf, modular training areas, batting cages, and a HitTrax system – within the next month at 1145 Woodmere Avenue (formerly CrossFit). The Olds, who have a daughter in softball and have long struggled to find reliable winter locations for practices, were alerted to the space by neighboring business owner Shawn Esther and assisted on building renovations by Chris Vandergriff and Bill Gaylord of TC Waves.

Anchor Point Athletics will offer online scheduling software allowing individuals or teams to book practice times, with various membership and multi-session packages available. While Kevin Olds says the primary draw will likely be for softball/baseball players to start, he hopes to eventually accommodate everything from lacrosse and soccer drills to senior movement classes to community programs like yoga. “We intend to offer a lot more as we grow,” he says. While both the YMCA and Traverse City Area Public Schools are also eyeing future indoor sports complexes, Anchor Point Athletics will be the first facility of its kind online in Traverse City – saving parents a considerable drive to outlying regions, according to Olds. “Being right near downtown will be a game changer for this community,” he says.

More Openings, Closings, and Moves…
Several new coffee shops are opening their doors, while one is relocating. Trailside Café recently opened at Logan’s Landing off South Airport Road, offering “organic coffee, energizing smoothies, and delightful breakfast bites” along the Boardman Lake Loop Trail. In Fife Lake, Katie Kniss is preparing for a Saturday grand opening of State Street Coffee at 108 West State Street – a building that shares space with The Quilter’s Clinic (owned by Kniss’s mother) and Fife Lake Barbershop. Kniss will offer coffee and espresso drinks, teas, chai, breakfast sandwiches, and pastries with free WiFi in a “comfortable eclectic cottage atmosphere,” she says. Online ordering will soon be available, along with curbside pick-up from 7am-9am.

In Traverse City, owner MaryAnne MacIntosh is planning a tentative November 11 opening date for a new Biggby Coffee location in the former bank drive-thru building in the Tom’s West Bay plaza off South West Bay Shore Drive. The coffee shop will have a drive-thru, lobby, a variety of seating, and a meeting conference room with free WiFI for paying customers, plus a variety of coffee drinks and food options. The business will be donating $1 from each drink sold its first week to nonprofit PoWer! Book Bags. Further down the Parkway, Mojo’s Coffee announced it will cease operations behind the Elks Lodge and move back to its original location in Kingsley at H&R Block on Cougar Trail starting this week.

Two new retail stores are coming to the downtown TC area. After being in Suttons Bay, Laughing Fish Gallery has found a new home in The Village at Grand Traverse Commons offering a “whimsical collection of hand-carved fish, woodland creatures, vibrant tapestries, and more,” plus an Art Café for maker projects. The store is planning a grand opening Saturday. At 204 East Front Street, Michele Bosscher plans to open new women’s store Serendipity – which also has locations in Cadillac and Big Rapids – in the former FatFace space this weekend. Bosscher says the store will offer “cute, easy-to-wear styles, cozy layers, and thoughtful gifts.”

On the restaurant front, Crocodile Palace held its last day of operations Sunday at its brick-and-mortar location on Cochlin Street. The business will still be operating out of The Little Fleet, however, “bringing some of our Cochlin favorites and the same energy that’s always driven us,” owners Patrick and Michael Evans wrote in a Facebook post. On the other side of downtown, the Blue Tractor – which closed in August – has been listed for sale on Union Street for $2.7 million ($2.2 million for the real estate and $500,000 for the liquor license). Owner Jon Carlson of Mission Restaurant Group previously told The Ticker a new concept was planned for the space. “We still think we have a plan to partner with an amazing concept, but thought it was best to also see what options are out there,” he said by email this week. “It is too amazing of a spot to not have ready and back open by next summer.”

Finally, a new four-seasons music pavilion is under construction outside Lake Ann Brewing Company. Owner Matt Therrien says the structure will feature “lots of glass garage doors, a spacious porch, large music stage, and new bathroom facility on the patio. It will essentially function as the (previous) tent did, with nothing changing to our original outdoor stage and grassy area.” The music pavilion is expected to open in December.