Interlochen to demolish Green Lake Lodge tied to Epstein legacy

Interlochen Center for the Arts will demolish Green Lake Lodge, a building once named for Jeffrey Epstein, as the Grand Traverse County institution confronts the history attached to one of its most visible campus structures.

The Interlochen Board of Trustees approved the plan after what the school described as careful consideration, saying the lodge had come to carry associations that are not reflective of the institution’s values. Interlochen said it will remove the building in a safe and timely manner.

The decision closes another chapter on Epstein’s ties to Interlochen, which date back to the summer of 1967, when he attended Interlochen Arts Camp. He later donated to the school from 1990 to 2003. Interlochen said it renamed the lodge in 2009 after learning of Epstein’s 2008 conviction and cut all ties with him that same year.

School leaders said a 2009 internal review found no reports of misconduct involving Epstein in campus records, and a second review after his 2019 arrest turned up no reports or complaints either. Interlochen has said the December release of federal investigative records did not reveal anything new about the school beyond what it had already disclosed.

The lodge’s fate now sits alongside a broader historical-abuse investigation at Interlochen Arts Academy. The school said that external review began in September 2024, was widened and made public in June 2025, and by January 2026 had drawn input from about 90 alumni who came forward with experiences or observations. Interlochen has invited people who may have been affected by Epstein to speak with an independent investigator.

The public pressure around the lodge has intensified after federal records and accounts from former administrators suggested Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell used his access to Interlochen and the rental lodge as a base to recruit some of their earliest victims. A former administrator said the school’s openness in the 1990s made Epstein’s access easier than it should have been, a reminder that the issue now reaches beyond one building and into how the institution evaluates old decisions.

Interlochen says student safety remains its priority as it continues to review and update its policies and campus-safety procedures. For a school that markets itself as a place of artistic trust and aspiration, razing Green Lake Lodge is both a physical removal and a public reckoning with what the campus once allowed.