Traverse City community tours Central Grade School before major renovation

The last chance to see Central Grade School in its current form came with a walk-through on May 20, when Traverse City residents moved through the old building before renovation work begins on one of the district’s most recognizable landmarks.

The school, at 301 West Seventh Street in Traverse City, has been in operation since 1874 and is the oldest neighborhood school in Traverse City Area Public Schools. The current building dates to 1934, after the original school burned on October 7, 1934, and it sits in the Central Neighborhood Historic District. That history is part of why the community turnout mattered: the tour was billed as a final opportunity to photograph the building’s historic features and review design renderings before the campus is transformed.

What will survive the project is as important as what will change. TCAPS said Lars Hockstad Auditorium will remain in place, with only minor updates to sound, lighting and seating, and the small gym will largely stay intact, including historic floor tiles that connect current students to earlier generations. The library is being moved back to the first floor, where it originally sat in 1937, while music and library spaces shift to meet current code. The district also houses its Talented & Gifted program at Central Grade, and the auditorium continues to serve both school and community performances each year.

The $55 million renovation is expected to bring an expanded parking lot, a new drop-off loop and a new cafeteria on the 8th Street side of the site. That reconfiguration is designed to change how students move through the building, so they will no longer have to pass through the cafeteria to reach the playground. Architects and district leaders have also said previous visioning sessions emphasized preserving the front lawn as much as possible and moving the main office to a more central location.

For taxpayers, the project sits inside TCAPS’ broader bond plan, which Superintendent John VanWagoner said would not increase the district’s 3.1-mill debt rate. That 2024 bond package also included about 35,000 square feet of instructional space enhancements for music and K-8 STEM programming.

Construction is expected to start in September 2026 and run to about April 2029. TCAPS expects students to use the Glenn Loomis Building during the 2026-27 school year, then return to the updated Central Grade School for the 2029-30 school year, turning a century-old neighborhood anchor into a building that is meant to work like a modern school while still looking like Central Grade.