Three new housing developments – one now under construction and two targeting spring 2017 groundbreakings – aim to meet the growing demand for new rental and single-family units in Grand Traverse County.

Copper Village Apartments
A four-phase, 38-unit development will bring new two and three-bedroom “apartment homes” to Traverse City as soon as November.

Copper Village Apartments is located behind the Copper Ridge office and retail complex at the corner of Barnes and Silver Lake roads. Plans for the development’s townhome-style rental units call for “large layouts and upgraded finishes,” private attached garages and covered porches, and panoramic views of Traverse City.

“They’re not your typical apartments,” explains Morgan Detvay of Rental Management One, which manages the property. “You don’t have people living below you or above you. They’re standalone family-unit site condos being rented as apartments. So essentially they’re two individual apartment homes that share a firewall.”

The first eight units are already under construction (see photo) and are expected to be ready for occupancy by mid-November. The remaining 30 units will be constructed in three phases of four months each over the next year. Leasing prices begin at $1,299 for a two-bedroom, two-bath unit, or $1,499 for a three-bedroom, two-bath unit (with discounted rates offered for early reservations). Traverse City’s Comstock Construction is overseeing the project.

Woodbury Estates
Eighty-four single-family residential homes are slated for a 30-acre parcel on Vance Road on the east side of M-37 in Blair Township.

Woodbury Estates is a new planned subdivision from Eastwood Custom Homes containing 1,000-1,100 square-foot homes with attached garages. The neighborhood will be accessible by two new service roads off Vance Road. The first phase of development is set to offer 28 lots, according to Project Manager Bill Crain of Crain Engineering. Assuming permit approvals go smoothly with Blair Township this fall, construction will likely begin in spring 2017, he says.

“If we break ground in April, I would probably say May or June (for occupancy),” Crain says. Construction on phase two of the development would begin “when a substantial number of units are built.”

Canfield Cove
Up to 45 new condominiums could be coming to 64 acres off S. West Silver Lake Road near Van Petten Drive in Blair Township.

Owner Bill Van Petten hopes to convert his long-held property into a new subdivision with lakefront access called Canfield Cove. The first phase calls for 15 units to be developed on 17 acres of property, with two subsequent phases adding another 30 units. The project went before Blair Township planning commissioners for a site plan review August 17; however, the board tabled the review until Van Petten secures the necessary soil erosion and Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) permits required to proceed.

Several neighbors expressed concern about the development at the August meeting, particularly over the potential increase in lake traffic created by a new subdivision. Blair Township Zoning Administrator Lindsey Wolf acknowledges she’s heard from Silver Lake residents that “they are strongly opposed to the project.” But Wolf says that “as long as (Van Petten) has the appropriate approvals from those governmental agencies, I don’t see any way it can be turned down from the township’s perspective.”

Van Petten could not be reached for comment. However, Traverse City engineer Ryan Cox – who’s working with Van Petten on the development – says the subdivision is “a good project that will satisfy a need we have in this area for residential single-family lots.”

“The density is very low in relation to what’s actually allowed on that property,” says Cox. “(Van Petten) isn’t proposing anything outside of the township’s ordinance, or anything the DEQ wouldn’t allow (on Silver Lake). Everything else in that area has sold really quickly…if it can get built, it seems like it’ll be a successful project.”