It’s a question Traverse City tourism officials have asked themselves a time or two: Does Traverse City really need more hotels? Regardless of the answer, more hotels are being built – and in significant numbers. The Ticker provides you with a guide to properties in the development pipeline throughout the Grand Traverse region.
East Bay Community
East Bay Township’s Beach District — the stretch of U.S. 31 between Three Mile and Holiday Road that already has more than 20 hotels — has seen several new additions in recent years, including the Avid Hotel and the Alexandria Inn. Next year will see at least one new hotel: a Residence Inn by Marriott, long in the making on the site of the former Pebble Brook Adventure Park. The Ticker The news was announced in 2018, but development was plagued by delays, most of them due to the pandemic.
Now, Jonathan Azer of Premier Hospitality – the development company behind the project in the south of the state – says things are finally in the home stretch. The Residence Inn (pictured), currently under construction, has a six-story design that will eventually add 122 guest rooms to the local offering. The hotel – which Azer says will offer “apartment-style rooms with kitchens, complimentary breakfast, a fitness center, guest laundry, an indoor pool and a rooftop bar and lounge serving custom cocktails and small bites” – is slated to open “early in the first quarter of 2025.”
The plan for the development was always to build a second hotel right next door, and Azer tells The Ticker These plans are still on schedule. Construction of the six-story Staybridge Suites with 120 rooms and an outdoor pool is scheduled to begin “in the next few months” and open “sometime in 2026.”
Premier Hospitality has also long planned to add a third building to the property: an 8,692-square-foot multifamily building with retail and commercial space and a drive-thru. But Azer said the company may scrap that idea and instead explore the potential for a third hotel on the site.
Both the Residence Inn and the Staybridge Suites are intended as “upscale extended-stay hotels,” according to Azer.
Several other hotels have been approved for the East Bay Township section of the Beach District, but none have yet begun construction. The property, located on US-31 between the Traverse City State Park campground and Hampton Inn, has long been a target for hotel developers and was approved in 2022 for a five-story, 143-room extended-stay Hyatt House. Current plans also include a 1,500-square-foot restaurant, cafe, indoor and outdoor pools and more. Developer Chris Abbo said in late 2022 that his team was “close to completing our drawings” and was targeting “a second or third quarter of 2023 start” for the project. Nearly two years later, however, the land is still undeveloped.
Abbo tells The Ticker He and his partners went to the township in the spring to seek a one-year extension on construction plans that would give developers until next June to “sit back,” observe the market and decide how to proceed. “We still have every intention of doing the project,” Abbo assures, but says his team wants to see how factors like Airbnb and other hotel developments affect demand in Traverse City’s lodging market.
Just a stone’s throw from the proposed Hyatt site, East Bay Township in June approved plans by development team Bacall Group to build a Homewood Suites by Hilton at the southeast corner of the US-31/Three Mile intersection. Bacall Group plans to demolish two houses on the site to make way for the 131-room hotel.
Also recently approved by East Bay Township: two new 60-room hotels next to the Tamarack Lodge. This project drew criticism from existing Tamarack condo owners in the spring. Wuerfel Resorts proposed moving one-third of the property’s parking to the other side of US-31, off Four Mile Road — which condo owners criticized as inconvenient and dangerous. Wuerfel Resorts ultimately agreed to guarantee Tamarack Lodge residents 29 parking spaces on the water side of US-31 and keep the satellite parking lot free “for staff and hotel overflow.”
Garfield Township
One of the newest hotels in the Grand Traverse area is the Tru by Hilton, located across the street from Panera in Garfield Township. That hotel opened last spring and brought 90 new guest rooms to the community. Now North Michigan Hospitality Management (NMHM), the developer of the Tru, is working on a second hotel right next door: a four-story, 95-room Fairfield Inn & Suites. NMHM President Fritz Heller says it’s scheduled to open later this year, noting that construction crews are “currently installing furniture, fixtures and appliances” to achieve an early fourth-quarter opening date.
Garfield Township is already home to a Fairfield Inn & Suites, located on North Country Drive next to Sam’s Club and Cracker Barrel. Once the new Fairfield is up and running, the old one will remain “dark” for a period of time, according to Heller, “while it becomes a new brand.” The renovated hotel, a Spark by Hilton, will open “in early Q2 2025.”
City of Traverse City
As The Ticker Two new hotels are in the works for downtown Traverse City, it was reported Sunday. Jeff Schmitz of JS Capitol Group, the developer that built the Hotel Indigo, will break ground Friday on The Syndicate, a new 110-room Marriott Tribute hotel he has been planning for years.
On the other side of the river, on the long-vacant lot next to the Traverse City Record Eagle Developer Jeff Smoke of Great Lakes Capital is pursuing plans to build a “premium boutique hotel.” Smoke had previously sought to develop a mixed-use development at the site that would have included both market-rate and affordable/workforce housing. Difficulties securing local and state incentives for the project prompted Smoke to change course and plan a luxury hotel instead. Details of the project, including the number of rooms and the hotel brand, are still being worked out.
Pictured: Premier Hospitality renderings for the Staybridge Suites and Residence Inn hotels in East Bay Township.
