Honoring the past by building the future, the Minervini Group's extensive renovation and preservation of buildings of the former Traverse City State Hospital recently snagged a prestigious honor.
The Historical Society of Michigan acknowledged the group for it's work at the 2007 State History Awards during the 133rd annual State History Conference held late last month in Macomb County. Recognized in the Restoration/Preservation category, one of 15 awards in as many categories presented, Raymond Minervini II accepted the award for the organization.
"It is nice to have some recognition by a very long-serving historical body,” said Minervini, partner in an enterprise spearheaded by his father, Ray Minervini. "We're not normally the type to go out and blow our own horn.”
The Village at Grand Traverse Commons is a mixed-use facility spanning multiple buildings that is weaving residential space and commercial endeavors into a unified neighborhood. Ray Minervini is the visionary who stepped in to make the adaptive reuse of a Kirkbride plan asylum, the only project of its nature in the country.
"As the city matures and infills this is a huge area that will remain undeveloped — we're very lucky it was preserved and not bulldozed for development,” said Raymond Minervini, of the combination of extensive grounds — he dubbed Traverse City's Central Park — and the buildings. "I think it was very close to a majority of Building 50, if not all of it, being demolished.”
Underway since 2000, the Village at Grand Traverse Commons project now boasts more than four dozen businesses, a diverse array of services, a seasonal farmer's market and retail offerings all in a human-scale community. Raymond, noting that his father is a proponent of new urbanism, believes the people who occupy the space provide its heart.
"My dad was always saying that it's the people who give us life,” he said. "He always wanted the facets of an old neighborhood, get all those elements going and then you have a neighborhood.”
"It's not just redoing the buildings, it's who's using the buildings,” Minervini added.
Higher Grounds Trading Company moved into space in Building 53 a month ago, bringing a coffee roastery and bar into the already vibrant marketplace. The owners wanted to be a part of a project that they felt would improve the quality of life overall in Traverse City, by combating sprawl, promoting local businesses and sustaining a viable green space.
"The Minervinis are committed to bringing businesses that are local and owned by business owners that are passionate about what they do,” said Jody Treter, co-owner of High Grounds.
"I think it's clear that Ray Minervini has turned down opportunities to make money in order to preserve the passion and history of this place” she added. "And I think everyone around him has more respect for him because of that.”
As a for-profit venture, the Village at Grand Traverse Commons blazed new ground where many preservation and restoration endeavors tap tax dollars. While the Minervinis have navigated the intricacies of myriad bureaucratic entities at all levels of government to further their vision, they have always ensured that their work was economically viable.
The setting in Traverse City, which has a diverse and vibrant economic profile, was a key to their taking the initial big commitment in the project by investing in redoing the roof on Building 50. Local banks also bought into the vision and a consortium provided the first backing.
"Preservation is not possible if there is not an economic life in the building,” noted Raymond Minervini. "The private marketplace has to do things.”
For more information on the Village at Grand Traverse Commons, see their web site at www.thevillagetc.com.