Is this one of the cities in Michigan which was turned over to a city manager?

[Frustratedlady]

Great conversion, but look at the price paid for the property.

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/on/village-at-grand-traverse-michigan-asylum-renovation/?ncid=wsc-dl-cards-readmore#photoID-5709578

[Squinch]

1. Cool article and great reno. But would you live there? I don't think I would.

[Frustratedlady]

3. Not sure if I would, or not.

I can just imagine there are many souls who were never listened to and were sadly neglected. I could be wrong, but I should imagine that with all those people who lived within the walls, a few might be lingering before passing over.

Just imagine those beautiful grounds for $1, even if you did pull down the buildings.

[gollygee]

4. I think the article said

that they were looking for someone who would renovate the buildings and not tear them down. I imagine they would have tried to get more for the property if they hadn't made that condition.

[Squinch]

6. Exactly, though I think many would think us ridiculous for thinking this.

I can sort of see the $1 price. These abandoned hospital sites cost a lot of money for the municipalities in terms of policing, and disease and pest control. I am hoping the town made a sweet deal for ongoing tax income in return for the price tag. If so, the price would make sense.

[gollygee]

2. No, Traverse City is a resort town

Wow! $1. Maybe it was because it would cost more to renovate the buildings than they were worth? It will bring in more tourists which will help the local businesses though.

[Frustratedlady]

5. Thank you for the info.

I have mixed emotions about the takeovers and thought maybe this was one of the sales we've heard about. Do you know how the majority of citizens feel about the takeovers?

[gollygee]

7. Oh I think the majority of citizens are foaming at the mouth

but maybe it's just the ones I talk to. There is a lot of racism involved in this issue. The cities taken over are cities that are predominately African American. There are plenty of racist people who are happy about it.

[Frustratedlady]

8. That's what I figured, but when I asked a relative for their opinion,

she shot back that this was not a takeover. After seeing a news report about how the new method has only worked in one city, it sounded like she wasn't really well-informed of the situation. I forget whose article I sent her, but she became very irate that the article was full of lies and exaggerations. Needless to say, I never brought it up again.

[gollygee]

9. Well it's absolutely a takeover

that's all anyone has called it, including Gov. Snyder.

There is a lot of racism in areas of Michigan that are mainly white about areas of Michigan that are mainly black. It's pretty ugly and people don't like to have that mirror put in front of them.

[Crepuscular]

10. No

Traverse City was not taken over by an emergency manager.

I didn't read the article but I'm familiar with the Grand Traverse Commons property. The sale was fully supported by local residents, there had been a number of previous attempts to develop the former state hospital property and they had all gone nowhere. The buildings were deteriorating and if something was not done pretty soon, it was likely that tearing all of them down would be the only option, which is not something that local residents wanted to see. The portion that was purchased for $1 was only a part of the whole property, other parts were portioned off into community gardens and some of the other structures were also turned over to the community. Part of the property was given to the Department of Natural Resources, to be preserved in a natural state. Other portions were converted into walking and hiking trails, as well. This site is adjacent to a regional medical center and some of the buildings directly adjacent were purchased and renovated by Munson Hospital, as well. Keep in mind that the entire asylum grounds were about 2,000 acres in size, so this is just a small portion, although it had many of the larger buildings located on it.

The resulting development is a gem and has proved to be a tremendous economic boost for Traverse City, it's provided millions of dollars of wages for local craftsmen and has created a wonderful, little business district with an artisan bakery, a wine tasting room, a coffee house and one of the better bistro's in the area. The best part is that the wonderful Gothic architecture of the asylum building has been preserved and they have been given a new lease on life, in a way that benefits the entire community.

[Frustratedlady]

11. Thank you! That's great to hear.

It sounds like the property was well utilized as it should be. I'm very glad to know all this information. More cities should explore the same options/plans.

[Crepuscular]

12. If you want

If you want to see some very cool pictures of both the commons property and also pictures of the asylum as it used to be, just search under Grand Traverse Asylum on Google Images, it's really an incredible place. Also, Wikipedia has some basic information about the asylum, it was one of the better institutions of it's type.

The founder of the asylum, James Decker Munson, traveled all over the country as part of his duties as administrator, he was an amateur botanist and he would always bring cuttings from wherever he traveled back to the asylum and plant them on the grounds. That was almost 100 years ago, the result is literally thousands of massive trees of many, many different varieties, that are planted on the park like grounds of the commons property. It's really a great place to take the dog for a stroll.

[Frustratedlady]

13. Thank you. Will do. eom