Traverse City Rejects Both Bijou by the Bay Operator Proposals

The Bijou by the Bay will remain without an operator after Traverse City staff rejected both proposals to manage the Clinch Park venue, with neither Studio Anatomy LLC nor Paper Birch Properties scoring the minimum 75 points required to advance in the city's review process.

Neither company was directly notified of the outcome. Both Studio Anatomy LLC and Paper Birch Properties say they learned their bids had been eliminated only after the city posted a Parks and Recreation Commission meeting packet online ahead of the board's April 2 meeting. The packet included a memo from Parks and Recreation Director Michelle Hunt stating that neither proposal met the 75-point minimum "required for advancement."

City Manager Benjamin Marentette acknowledged the lapse, saying the city "should have communicated more proactively" with applicants. He said he is reviewing the RFP process.

Hunt, who interviewed the RFP candidates alongside Facilities Manager David Wohlfert and a colleague identified only as Allen in city documents, authored the memo that disclosed the scoring results. The rejections leave the Con Foster building, which has sat vacant since the Traverse City Film Festival departed at the end of 2024, without a clear path forward. No next steps for the venue have been publicly announced.

The city authorized the RFP process on January 5, when commissioners voted to solicit proposals for both the Bijou and the Carnegie Building on Sixth Street. The timeline was compressed: the RFP was posted January 13, applicants had to attend a mandatory building tour January 21, and full bids were due February 4. Submissions required detailed financials, a facility use and operations plan, and responses addressing community partnerships, environmental stewardship, organizational capacity, and accessibility and inclusivity.

The communication breakdown extended to the Carnegie Building process as well. Traverse Area District Library, one of two applicants for that space, similarly learned through the posted packet that it had scored lower than Crooked Tree Arts Center, whose current lease on the Carnegie building is set to expire in October.

With applicants left in a holding pattern and no plan to reissue the RFP publicly announced, the Bijou's future remains unresolved.