There’s a little buzz in Northport these days. Things like new construction, new businesses, new owners and new ideas. For some, it represents moving forward from a tough decade – closure of Leelanau Memorial Hospital in 2004, followed by a sewer system project that generated controversy and negative publicity, and little commercial activity.

But that was then; there’s so much happening now it’s almost hard to keep up with.

“I see a lot of positive things happening in Northport, most on a small scale and realistic,” says longtime business owner Bruce Viger. “This is never going to be an easy place to earn a living, but for those who want to be here, it can work. You just better save your pennies in the summer.”

Viger opened his third venture in Northport in 2011 – Garage Bar and Grill – by far his smallest project. “For six weeks in the summer it’s too small, but for the rest of the year it’s just about right,” he says.

He should know – he’s been doing business in the tiny northern Leelanau community for 22 years, previously establishing Stubb’s and then the Eat Spot.

“We are definitely a seasonal retirement community,” says Viger. “But this is where I grew up. Many people would have given up.”

Here’s a look at what The Ticker found is up (and coming):

-- Ben Walraven expects to start construction by mid-June/early July on his yet-to-be-named family entertainment center on Waukazoo Street at the site of the former Woody’s Settling Inn. “We need year-round entertainment,” says Walraven, who moved to Northport permanently with his wife Kathy three years ago. “There is not much for the general population to do in the winter.”

By this Christmas season, Walraven plans to open the doors of the new 12,000 square-foot development, to include a restaurant (up to 200 seats in the summer), sports-themed bar/lounge area, small arcade and a bowling alley. It will offer a “boutique bowling” atmosphere – with regular-sized balls, pins and lanes – but higher quality food and surroundings than is typical of bowling alleys, Walraven explains.

-- Erik and Deirdre Owen opened Motovino Cellars, a wine shop with its own label produced by local winemaker Shawn Walters, at 110 Waukazoo St. last spring. They have now put the renovated building on the market as they hope to move Motovino to the building they recently purchased down the street at the corner of Waukazoo and Nagonaba. It currently houses Brew North coffee shop (which they now also own) and is also a music venue on Friday nights. Owen hopes to have a liquor license in place by June 1 and is focusing on building this community gathering place in the center of the village.

“We’re on the cusp of a lot of things changing,” he says. “Northport is a gem, no doubt. The difficulty is in how to create a sustainable community outside of the six to eight weeks in the summer.”

Also …

-- Karl Wizinsky has received a special use permit from the Northport Planning Commission for a microbrewery at 112 W. Nagonaba Street.

-- Jay and Diane Homan, new owners of the historic train Depot in the village, are currently in the middle of the building’s restoration and still undecided about its future, though are eyeing a late summer/early fall opening. “If I had a crystal ball, I envision a relaxing place for you to put your feet up, read a good book or magazine, maybe wine, cigars and chocolate, too,” says Jay Homan.

-- A $1 million, 9-hole, solar-powered golf course is slated for a July 2014 opening by Northport Creek, LLC, a group of investors headed up by Northport’s Bill Collins. The par 35, 2,935-yard course and clubhouse will be built on 63 acres on the old Mervau property in the village. It is being designed by Jerry Matthews, a well-known Michigan natural golf course designer and construction will kickoff later this spring.