Bohemian Like You

For real this time - Hotel Indigo is breaking ground.



Years ago, when the idea of a boutique hotel was proposed my initial reaction was one of "don't do it! - let's not lose the warehouse district". Like what Chirstopher Hutchins felt about the West Village in Vanity Fair,

Every successful society needs its Bohemia, a haven for the artists, exiles, and misfits who regenerate the culture. With the heart of New York’s West Village threatened by developers, London, Paris, and San Francisco have a message for Manhattan: Don’t do it!

(See: Last Call, Bohemia)

Cities need an incubator. A sanctuary. Marine sanctuaries are a place of refuge to replenish fish populations. A city needs an area where ideas and businesses can be replenished. A place to grow. A space where failure is an option and success is a chance. Often this means low-rent areas. Often this means empty warehouses. Historicaly these were the bohemian areas. The sections of the city that may have looked downtrodden but flourished with the people who worked with their hands. What we now euphemistically call the creative class. And as those creatives aged they became productive entrepreneurs. And this is why every city needs a place for its misfits. Those who want to go in an unlikely direction.

Traverse City had a literal little bohemia 100 years ago. This spawned the institutions of Sleder's and Lil Bo's as well as the entire Slabtown neighborhood. Though "bohemian" is not much used today - a better term might be "little Detroit".

For all the sadness and desperation surrounding that once great American city there are creatives in the core who are using the low rent area to grow their ideas. They can take these chances due to the existing low cost infrastructure. And manufacturing is coming back there. Bicycles, watches, leather goods, and so much more. Yeah, it might lead to gentrification someday but is that better than the alternative?

Traverse City had a warehouse district. Hotel Indigo will change the warehouse district in a big way. Like a suburban street named after a forest that was cut down for cul-de-sacs. But that is not the end of a lamentable story. And this is why I changed my mind.

I think Traverse City has a next little-Detroit area. An area of the City for risk takers to make their experiments.

Woodmere Avenue and the area east of Boardman Lake. Maybe beyond.

The Woodemere Ave corridor has had its redesign. The Boardman Lake trail is in place on the east side of the lake. And there is warehouse space available such as "The Glacier Dome" (The Ticker has a story of 70's bands playing there.)

And now Traverse City is about to get its Hotel Indigo. I hope the Hotel Indigo is successful and the people it will draw to downtown and the bayfront support all of our local businesses. Plus, Ballantine restaurant sounds interesting ("an American Gastropub and Belgian Bier Bar"). My initial fears of losing some sort of "authenticity" were misplaced.  Traverse City still has room for bohemians, a little Detroit, and if some new development gentrifies that area then perhaps a new area will become the incubator.

I just hope we, as a town, never lose areas to serve as our sanctuaries and incubators.

The Dandy Warhols inspired the title for this post:







Additional reading:

Record-Eagle: Chain hotel in works for Grandview Parkway
TCBusinessNews: Major chain hotel proposed in Traverse City's Warehouse District
TV 7&4: Four-story hotel coming to Traverse City?
TV 7&4: Local businesses speak out about proposed hotel
Fox33: Upscale hotel planned for Traverse City's warehouse district
Record-Eagle: Letters to the Record-Eagle editor in opposition
Record-Eagle: Proposed Hyatt hotel divides opinions
Record-Eagle: Downtown hotel plans hit roadblock
Record-Eagle: New hotel planned for Warehouse District
MyNorth: Hotel Indigo – Warehouse District
ICH: About Hotel Indigo
IPR: Warehouse District Ready To Boom
UpNorthLive: Hotel plans move forward at GT Commons
Downtown TC: Garland St input
Ticker: New Shops, New Brewery for Warehouse District
IPR: Woodmere Renaissance

Detroit links:
Freep: Ad agency Campbell Ewald headed downtown, with 600 jobs
FasctCoCreate Remaking Detroit: Can Creative Companies Save an American City on the Brink? and Meet The Makers: Rebuilding Detroit by Hand 


 

Community Conflicts

Today's Ticker: TCFF & Paella: Summer 2012 Woes hit on something I was thinking about this past weekend.

No, not "these pirates are not historically accurate representations of pirating in the Great Lakes" nor was it "I have to pay for a Pirate breakfast and coffee is $1.75 extra?!" but rather "how many festivals are there?"

This past weekend we had the Michigan Schooner Festival, the Epicurean Classic, the NMC Mike McIntosh Memorial Truck & Car Show, and Acme Fall Fest. I'm sure I am missing some things.

The most people I saw at the Schooner Festival were the throngs outside of the paid area to watch the ships under sail Friday night. The Epicurean Classic was using tents on Garland St. - less dignified surroundings than in previous years and I heard turnout was less too.

In August The Commons has a Wine and Art Festival one weekend and a Microbrew and Music festival the next. Wuerfel Park had a beer festival this year too.

So many festivals, so little time. Could any of these be combined or scheduled more efficiently?

For example, if the Classic Boats on the Boardwalk and the Schooner Festival were the same weekend wouldn't their combined draw be more than each on its own?

Who could be a liaison between all of these festivals?

Mayor Bzdok wants a Neighborhood Ombudsman.

I've been against the City adding a neighborhood advocate because:

1.) isn't this why we elect City Commissioners?

2.) we need to think of ourselves as a single City rather than a series of tribes or neighborhoods.

3.) neighborhoods tend to advocate for their own interests rather than the City's best interest.

Examples include Slabtown neighborhood wanting their own beach even though there is a nearby existing beach and research shows beach grooming degrades fish habitat directly offshore and up to 150 ft along the shore.

Central neighborhood wants to keep Seventh and Eighth streets one way even though it can be easily demonstrated that two-way streets are better for the neighborhood and city.

Old Town Neighborhood Association wants a bypass built next to Boardman Lake even though a comprehensive 10 year traffic study from the University of Toronto clearly shows more roads always lead to more traffic.

Three neighborhoods wanting what they think is best for them but when taking the big view could actually lower the quality of life in the City.

I am not sure someone advocating for the neighborhoods would help.

Something that might help is this question a friend posed: why don't we elect City Commissioners by district like at the County? I like it, each neighborhood could elect their own commissioner and then each neighborhood would have their own official advocate.

Then could the Neighborhood Ombudsman idea be expanded into a Community Ombudsman? Someone who could coordinate events and resolve conflicts with all of these festivals and non-profits and also serve as a single point of contact for citizens' concerns and complaints.

Just a thought I had this weekend.