Reimagining the Cherryland Center

New businesses, housing, and community attractions being added to the former mall

By Anna Faller | Sept. 14, 2024

Back in the nineties and early aughts, the Cherryland Center in Traverse City was a bustling shopping center at the intersection of Garfield and South Airport roads. But the rise of online shopping, several recessions, and the decline of big box stores led to the property slowly emptying…until it got a new life in the last few years.

Spearheaded by the Garfield Township Planning Commission, the complex is now the focal point of a revitalization initiative, headlined by a host of new owners and businesses, to reimagine the space as a modern and vibrant hub for community engagement.

“We’re fortunate that we have those that are willing to take a risk and make that investment,” says Garfield Township Planning Director John Sych. “We’re in a market that can support those efforts, which is a good thing for Garfield and the region as a whole.”

The Fall of the Mall

Formerly known as the Cherryland Mall, the Cherryland Center’s first life began in the 1970s, when Schostak Brothers and Company, Inc., a Livonia-based real estate development company, opened it as the first and only enclosed shopping mall in northwest Michigan at the time.

“It was really the first big development outside the proper area of Traverse City,” Sych notes.
At the time, the culture of shopping was framed as an exciting excursion. Big box stores with a variety of products were a key element of this business model, and the Cherryland Center more than delivered with its original four anchor tenants: Sears, Younkers (previously H.C. Prange Co.), Kmart, and a Kroger supermarket, which was later replaced by a Tom’s Food Market.

By the late nineties though, the times were changing. Consumers no longer wanted to spend hours browsing products; instead, they were prioritizing an experience that could expedite their daily errands. In response to this shift, the Cherryland Center was redeveloped as an outdoor “power center,” which also marked notable expansions for its most dominant players like Younkers and Sears.

It was also around this time that “category killers” like Best Buy and Office Depot were having their moment, and in 2011, the complex’s grocery space was occupied by the Big Lots that’s still there today.

But in-store traffic declined even further throughout the following decades, as shipping became a central pillar of goods exchange. By the end of the 2010s, three of Cherryland’s four anchor stores had closed those locations or gone out of business.

What to Do?

Fast forward to the early 2020s, and the majority of the mall was vacant. Today, Big Lots serves as the sole anchor name, and only about half of the 23 smaller storefronts are occupied, with current tenants including Asian Buffet, L.A. Nails, and G.T. Games.

This left Garfield Township with nearly 40 acres of underutilized space. “It’s a substantial amount of property to be viable for commercial [use], though,” says Sych, especially when most local shopping demand has migrated west to US-31 with options like Target at the Grand Traverse Mall or the adjacent superstores of Grand Traverse Crossing.

There was interest in revitalizing the space, including a $10 million U-Haul development pitched in 2018, but the township also wanted to avoid what they call “dead space” uses, like storage units. The complex had an excellent framework, including access to two major thoroughfares, tons of parking, and several fast-food locations and coffee shops already in place. But what would be the best fit for it? The township left that up to interested buyers.

The process began by creating a “sub-area” initiative, known as the Barlow-Garfield Neighborhood Plan (that’s an amendment to the township’s Master Plan), whose aim is to generate a uniting vision for the northeast corner of Garfield Township. The Cherryland Center, says Sych, was a clear focal point.

“We went into it knowing that [the property] was a great opportunity. We’ve encouraged developers to create other uses, and we wanted to let future owners know that the township was supporting that,” Sych adds.

A CLEAR Vision

One section of the former mall is already seeing the effects of thoughtful development.

Led by three local entrepreneurs—Lowell Gruman and Casey Cowell, both of Boomerang Catapult, along with North American Advisors CEO Bruce Byl—plans for the former Kmart site rebrand as the Center for Lifetime Engagement, Activity, and Renewal (CLEAR) are underway.

CLEAR Center already includes the Traverse City Curling Club, Traverse City Philharmonic, and 24/7 Golf, and they expect to expand with on-site solar energy, multifamily housing, and new tenants such as a possible trampoline park, roller rink, and/or national retail store.

The developers have implemented a philanthropic funding model, wherein $4.5 million in membership equity, sourced from private contributors, will allow the property to transition from a nonprofit to a for-profit LLC.

Per Byl, approaching the revamp this way will not only help spur community activity, but because the plaza falls within a Designated Enterprise Zone—that’s a government label designed to jumpstart economic growth—the shift could also help propel property values and offer tax advantages. As part of the financing, the team was also able to sell about 11 acres of excess frontage, wherein a fourplex of retail units, including a Starbucks, is already under construction.

“We want to build an economically-resilient community, where people are attracted to live and work and create value to send out into the world,” Gruman tells us. “We’re giving people the opportunity to participate, and that’s why what we’re doing is so exciting.”

Meet the Tenants

The CLEAR story begins in 2019, when the Traverse City Curling Club, then operating at Centre Ice, started looking for a larger facility—specifically, one with the space and infrastructure to accommodate their own ice rink.

After the pandemic dashed plans for a new building, the nonprofit began reconstruction of the sprawling Kmart space in June 2022. Since then, the Traverse City Curling Club, which opened its doors the following year, has grown to occupy about a quarter of the 87,000-square-foot structure. It encompasses a multi-lane curling rink, viewing area, and post-game social lounge (complete with pre-measured drinks on tap).

“It’s become a great success,” Gruman says.

The Traverse City Philharmonic (formerly Traverse Symphony Orchestra) has also signed on to occupy another quadrant of the CLEAR Center space. Following the group’s recent relaunch, the new facility will serve as TC Phil’s central headquarters while offering rehearsal and recital venues, teaching studios, and program expansion headlined by a community music school, which aims to serve students throughout the five-county region. The community music school is projected to open later this fall.

The center’s third and tenant is likely to be 24/7 Golf—a recreation concept offering all-day access to indoor pickleball courts and golf simulations—whose business would occupy the northeast corner space of the building.

That leaves about 27,000 square feet of unclaimed space at the building’s center. Though they haven’t confirmed an occupant yet, the CLEAR group notes that potential tenants ranging from furniture retailers to gourmet food stores and health and fitness companies have all reached out. To be clear: there are no specific criteria for potential lessees. Byl does, however, stress that the space should be a “community amenity.”

“If we could pick and choose [the last tenant], it would be something that would draw people to the area, so that they could enjoy what’s been recreated and continue to make it vibrant,” he says.

Other highlights of the CLEAR Center’s efforts include installing solar panels on the curling club’s roof, courtesy of Heritage Sustainable Energy—which, per Gruman, will lower energy costs—as well as a partnership with Innovo to construct a 52-unit townhome complex that’s still in the works.

Filling in the Gaps

As for the remaining two thirds of the center, Sych says there’s still plenty of room.

In the southwestern wing, a K1 Speed go-kart racing branch is already up and running. The roughly 80,000-square-foot lot that was previously home to Sears was purchased by Alpena-based internist Dr. Ulysses Walls in fall 2022. Since then, it’s been completely refurbished as the indoor go-kart racing franchise, which has dozens of locations throughout the country and specializes in electric karts (some of them decked out in neon, called “glow-karts”) that can reach almost 50 miles per hour.

Per Sych, the business is also coordinating with a local builder to finalize an adjacent bar/restaurant concept called High Tops. The space, which was originally slated for a location at the Grand Traverse Mall, will offer American fare and music to go along with the go-karts. 

Earlier this week, an updated site plan for High Tops was brought to Garfield Township planning commissioners that includeda sports bar, restaurant, and nightclub with a total capacity of just over 1,900. High Tops is expected to occupy the rest of the former Sears building at just over 38,000 square feet.

Commissioners had concerns that late hours and noise from concerts and the rear parking lot for the nightclub would be disruptive to neighbors on Woodward Avenue. The application has been tabled until High Tops owner Philip Beehler can attend a board meeting and address the board's concerns.

The future of the former Younkers building, however, is still a question mark.

Though Sych notes that the planning commission has received several proposals for portions of the property—most notably, a dog-friendly brewpub, called Two Brothers Dog Park Café & Taproom—no concrete action has been taken. Sych does, however, emphasize that the Younkers block zoning is flexible, and as such, other potential uses, like residential space, shouldn’t be discounted.

Instead, he adds, the commission’s interest lies in ensuring that the development remains balanced; both in terms of forward-thinking services, as well as maintenance and infrastructural upkeep once consumer traffic increases.

“We’re hopeful that this is a work in progress that will be an attractive, safe place for people to gather, whether it’s to attend the TC Philharmonic, go shopping, or whatever it is they have planned,” Sych concludes.

Coffee and smoothies and burgers, oh my!

In addition to the Cherryland Center’s main building, there are several standalone businesses running the length of the plot’s perimeter. Current tenants include (from north to west):
- Wendy’s
- Starbucks (coming soon)
- Margarita’s Grill Mexican Restaurant
- Burger King
- Biggby Coffee
- 7-Brew Drive-Thru Coffee