G2 Consulting Group opens new Traverse City office, expands in region

G2 Consulting Group has opened a new Traverse City office at 3660 Rennie School Rd., Suite A, a sign that the firm is moving deeper into northern Michigan as demand grows for geotechnical, environmental and construction engineering work. The company says the new office is part of a broader expansion that now stretches across five locations and more than 130 team members.

For Grand Traverse County, the bigger question is what the move means for jobs and project work now. A G2 job posting for a geotechnical project manager described the role as one that would help establish and grow the Traverse City office, suggesting the company is not just planting a flag but trying to build a local client base and staffing bench. The office can be reached at 231-778-6800.

G2’s expansion also points to a company with a long runway. It started in August 1994 in Noel Hargrave-Thomas’ basement, founded by Hargrave-Thomas, Mark Smolinski and Bruce Wilberding. Smolinski, a Michigan Technological University alumnus, is now a founding principal and founding partner who oversees the firm’s Environmental Consulting Group and business development.

The Traverse City location adds to a footprint that already includes Troy, Ann Arbor, Flint and Chicagoland. G2 also recently moved its headquarters to 1775 Crooks Rd., Suite 100, in Troy, where it said the new space almost tripled the size of the previous office and now houses about 100 full-time employees.

The arrival lands in a region that already has a well-established engineering and construction-services base. Grand Traverse Engineering and Construction, or GTEC, says it has served private and public clients in the Grand Traverse region for more than three decades. Gourdie-Fraser says it was established in Traverse City in 1948 as the John C. Norton Company. G2’s move adds another player to that mix, and it may be a signal that the county’s development capacity is widening rather than simply shifting work from one office to another.