Traverse City commission to vote on Crooked Tree lease extension at Carnegie Building
Commissioners will decide whether Crooked Tree stays in the Carnegie Building another year as Traverse City weighs a shared-use plan and $583,000 in repairs.
Traverse City commissioners will decide whether Crooked Tree Arts Center gets another year in the Carnegie Building, a move that keeps a major downtown asset in limbo while city leaders weigh repair costs, public access and who should occupy one of the city’s most visible civic spaces.
City Manager Benjamin Marentette is recommending approval of the short extension. The building on Sixth Street is about 11,500 square feet, and city facility assessments put restoration needs at roughly $583,000, including historic window replacement and HVAC upgrades. For taxpayers, that means the lease decision is tied directly to how the city protects a historic property without committing too early to a use that could prove costly or too narrow for the building’s long-term role.
The larger issue is bigger than one tenant. On April 21, commissioners directed Marentette to work with both Crooked Tree Arts Center and Traverse Area District Library to see whether the Carnegie Building could support a shared-occupancy arrangement, then return with a recommendation by the May 18 commission meeting. Both organizations received perfect scores on the city’s criteria, which helps explain why the commission has not settled the matter more quickly. A one-year extension would keep Crooked Tree in place while that process continues.
The Carnegie Building’s history still shapes the debate. Dedicated on March 10, 1905, it opened as Traverse City’s library and remained the home of Traverse Area District Library until 1998, when the library moved to Woodmere Avenue. That long connection gives the building unusual weight in a downtown where civic space is limited and public uses compete with each other.
Crooked Tree’s case rests on the activity it already generates. The organization says its Traverse City location averages about 29,400 visitors and participants each year, serves more than 55,000 people annually across its wider reach, and supports more than 200 classes, 30 instructors, more than 500 artists, two art fairs and Paint Grand Traverse each year. Traverse Area District Library, meanwhile, has pointed to its local history collection, which contains more than 27,000 items of significance to Grand Traverse County, as a possible fit for the building’s next chapter.
Commissioners unanimously extended Crooked Tree’s lease in December 2024 and raised annual rent from $50,000 to $55,000, underscoring how the building has become an ongoing policy question rather than a routine property decision. Monday’s vote will show whether city leaders want to keep buying time or move closer to a longer-term answer for the Carnegie Building’s future.
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