The Village at Grand Traverse Commons

We loved our brief visit on a Saturday farmer’s market. Vendors were super friendly and other patrons seemed to just be having a great time. Not often you feel that sense of community flowing throughout a building but they’ve got it. Cuppa Joe served up a delicious breakfast for a reasonable amount of money. I’ve been to the famed Pike Place fish market in Seattle and this place beats it hands down despite the lack of fish being flung. Way cooler, way more fun.

I was really excited after seeing this on the Traverse app (I recommend downloading it if you’re a tourist) The app mentioned it was a shopping center within an old mental institution. I wish I’d done a bit more research and was prepared to pay the $ 25 per person fee for the tour. I have a feeling that the tour would have been awesome & changed my whole perception of this place.
Coming from a shopaholic, the shopping center itself wasn’t anything special. We weren’t hungry so we just grabbed a coffee at Cuppa Joe and wandered through the halls. The stores are mostly local shops – which I’m always down to support – but I didn’t find too much that intrigued me.
If you’re coming to this shopping center, I highly recommend planning to do the tour, so you don’t have a lackluster experience.

Went on the historic tour today and couldn’t have had a better experience. From the first phone call when we were told it was sold out but since we only had a party of 2 we were given a spot. We Paid over the phone, received an email confirmation before we even hung up the phone, and when we arrived our name was on the list. Easy peasy.
The tour was absolutely amazing. The guide, Joe Kilpatrick, was very informative and you could tell he was very passionate about the commons, the history and the preservation of a time forgotten by most. My wife and I had really been looking forward to this tour and it exceeded our expectations by a long shot. The tour was 2 hours and Joe let whoever wanted to stay after go into the chapel, which was stunning, and he also shared some interesting ghost pictures with those interested. I could not recommend this tour more. And if you’re claustrophobic, you can skip the tunnels. There were a few from our group that skipped it, it’s about 30 minutes or so.

What a «hidden» gem! First off they did a fabulous job repurposing the beautiful building and grounds! The shops are a very pleasant surprise and a must go visit. I especially liked Christmastide. The jewelry was unique and the prices were surprisingly affordable. There are also coffee shops and restaurants.

Don’t visit TC without spending a little time at the Commons. It’s a gorgeous site with many things to do, see, eat, buy, and learn. This facility used to a leader in compassionate treatment for the mentally ill, and the buildings and grounds reflect a beautiful history here. Built starting in the 1880s and active through the 1980s, this site is a marvel of architecture, compassion, nature, and beauty.
Highlights:
Take the walking tour. It’s pricy, but the cost goes towards the restoration of the arboretum. It’s led by Joe (ask for him), who was grown up in TC and is passionate about the site, its restoration, and its former patients. It’s a two hour tour and you’ll learn a lot about this fantastic site.
Eat! Stella or Pepenero for some of the best food in town (particularly Stella), Higher Grounds for amazing coffee in a beautiful setting, Left Foot Charley next door for great wine and cider, Spanglish for amazing, authentic tacos and Tamales, Pleasanton Bakery for out-​of-​this-​world breads.
Shop! There are some wonderful boutique shops here with art, jewelry, clothing, and housewares. Get yourself a gift or get one for the folks back home. Mostly local and handmade.
Hike! The grounds are huge, and have a dozen or so mile-​long trails behind the Mercato. Pick up a trail map and spend a little time hiking. Well maintained and most can be hiked in an hour or so.
Plan on coming here for lunch, coffee, or dinner, and stay half a day to explore the shops and grounds.

I love history especially when it has to do with mental hospitals, etc. So I really enjoyed wandering through these hallways!
It was very cool to walk through those hallways and think about what used to be, there are pictures on the walls that give you a visual and written accounts of what it used to look like & how it was. There are some neat shops in there.
Overall I really enjoyed walking through The Village.
They are also surrounded by some really good places like Spanglish (YUM!) & Pleasanton Bakery (SO GOOD)! And Great Wolf Lodge is just around the corner!

I really enjoy visiting this place! I think it’s a great use of these existing structures. I’ve been here several times, and each time discover something new. There are great restaurants, cool stores, and clean bathrooms! We even take our dogs on the trails behind the buildings.

Cool little place in an old mental hospital. Lots of neat shops most are pricy though. It was fun in the am however as the day went on it got crowded fast and there is not much room in there. If you go; go early! There was one shop I enjoyed the natural soap shop the others were basic clothing boutiques. Fun experience and nice to learn the history.

This place is just really weird. The grounds are gorgeous, and I really appreciate what they’ve done with the buildings, but as a tourist destination, I am not sure. First: they offer guided tours, and if you’re going to go, I would say that’s the thing to do. (Although another Unilocaler says the fee is $ 25!) Otherwise, it’s somewhat confusing. They have opened shops and restaurants in at least one of the buildings (and one of those restaurants. Trattoria Stella, is apparently one of the best in the city), but the shops are oddly random, and it’s so quiet, it’s almost unnerving.

What else can you do with an old insane asylum but turn it into shops & condos?!
When I heard about this I was a bit creeped out but was intrigued and wanted to check it out myself. Happy I did. Although this project has a loooong way to go I think it’s a very good idea. I’m happy they invite very small business to take space at The Commons. I like the feel of homemade items, small scale business going on here. It makes the community more interesting. Plus there’s already a giant mall on the outskirts.
It was raining heavily when I visited and even then I could tell just how beautiful of a spot this rest on. The grounds have these magnificent trees and lots of green space. It’s stunning and surrounded by nature and feels like your walking through a grand estate. I can’t wait to try again with the sun shining.
While walking around I visited a few art galleries, clothing, book and soap shops. All very cool but pricey. It’s not where you’d buy all your items but some since the price tags are a bit higher.
It even has a few wine tasting restaurants. Looking forward to stopping back on my future visits. Very cool Traverse City, I like this idea.
Ooooh…wait! Ps. You need to get a traffic light at the intersection of 11^th & Division. It’s an absolute terror to get out of that parking jam!

It is difficult to write a review on old buildings and the grounds that they stand on. But, I will do my best.
This used to be the Traverse City State Mental Hospital back in the day. Of course this facility is no longer in use. So, instead of letting the buildings and ground turn to hell, they decided to rehab them into retail, dinning, and residential spaces. According to the website they do offer hiking trails as well as a tour of the facility (for a hefty fee of $ 25 per person). What the site does not tell you is how to access all these different services.
When we arrived we found the main building with signs everywhere for the different shops and restaurants in each of the buildings that have been rehabbed. But that’s it. We wondered around the main building but found nothing to provide information about the trails the website boasts nor where you would go if you wanted to do the tour. While we walked around we tried to pull up any information on our phones, but you know how well that probably worked out… not very.
We then decided to drive around and see if we could find more of what we were looking for. But that was unsuccessful.
With that being said… the grounds of which we did see are well kept, green, and a nice place to hang out. The main building has been redone and it was really cool to see and try to picture it being a mental institution back in the day.
I think what would have made this visit more enjoyable is just having access to additional information about the grounds and where the different things mentioned on their website were actually located. And maybe they do, and we just didn’t look in the right place… but informational signs would have been great.

A must-​see in Traverse City. What a great use of an old historic building. Even if you aren’t interested in shopping or dining, it is nice to walk around and look at the artwork and the building. We could spend hours there! Although there was not a large variety of shops available, it is growing and expanding.

The Commons is an amazing project, being directed by an amazing family! I am excited to see the new senior living center open this fall, Cordia TC. It will be nice to have an upscale senior living complex in the area.

This place is definitely worth a visit, lots of little local shops and interesting galleries. It did feel a bit eerie knowing what it used to be, and made it a little meandering because of how the halls were set up. Great shopping and photo ops here!

3.5
This place was worth a quick visit. It was once the state’s mental institution turned into shopping/​office/​restaurant space. The grounds are full of beautiful trees and freshly mowed grass. The building as you would expect was huge and beautifully eery, perhaps a snapshot out of a Steven King novel. Inside, I loved the renovated space but the frequency of doors and smaller spaces keeps you reminded what this place used to be. It’s almost as if you could hear the screeching, whining, chatter of people who suffered from mental illness through the long extended hallways.
The shops were cool and unique but I was hoping for more. It seemed only one level (basement) was available for shopping. Not sure if the rest of the building is office space only. Guess I was expecting the inside to be a bustling shopping mall, which it wasn’t.
Nonetheless, it’s worth a stop and saunter.
Upcycled space. LOVE!

This review is for the grounds and old buildings of the now-​defunct Traverse City State Mental Hospital. The hospital is no longer a working entity and the largest of the buildings on site contains what is now The Grand Traverse Commons, a mixed use condo, shopping, and restaurant space.
The Grand Traverse Commons contains very little of the site’s history and does little to hint at what the original purpose of the building was. In reading up on the facility, the Grand Traverse Commons area was the original site of «Building 50′, the main and largest building of the original mental hospital, which operated between roughly 1850ish– 1980ish (don’t quote me on those dates, I may be way off. I do know it opened before the turn of the century and closed allot sooner then you might think).
Due to the need to house more patients during its ‘heyday’, several other buildings sprung up around Building 50, to meet patient needs (housing, medical, occupational, etc). These original, dilapidated buildings around the property were most interesting to me and it’s what I spent the most time exploring.
In talking to a construction worker who happened to be cleaning out one of the old buildings on site, the original Building 50 was built in about two years but it has taken about 12 years to restore and renew it to what it is today. Based on demand, the other buildings on the site are being reconstructed as well to various specifications, including apartments, shopping, or condos.
While the restoration process is impressive, a walk around the ruined, rusted, vine covered grounds is a must for anyone looking to see a bit of history and have a scare in the process. Although I didn’t see or hear anything ghostly during my visit, a walk of the grounds and a peek in the windows gave me more then a few shivers.
The site is a must for anyone looking for interesting pictures!

Fascinating place. It’s amazing how they transformed part of the hospital into shops and restaurants. There’s a very nice knitting shop there that specializes in handspun and hand dyed yarns. I enjoyed walking around the entire complex. Most of the hospital is still in disarray and has a haunted, macabre feel to it. The park surrounding it is very atmospheric.

Not very many shops in this huge historic beauty, they’re still reinventing this place. VERY cool to walk around. They have condos upstairs which you can’t get to anymore… These things go for over $ 600,000! Cheap, right? Yeah, just a bit of pocket change. They have 2 wine stores (Black Star and Left Foot Charley), an art store, a few yummy bakeries, a place that sells handmade soaps and lotions, a store for bicyclists, an upscale looking salon called Capelli, a cosmetic skin and laser center, coffee and more. Stella Trattoria is a nice little pricey restaurant in the basement. I hear that’s amazing, but I’ve never had time to eat there yet. Make sure you tour the grounds and check out the buildings that haven’t been touched yet. Creepy!

It’s an admirable concept, converting the old Traverse City State Mental Hospital Complex from an abandoned ruin to some trendy shops. The centerpiece is, building 50, a massive multi-​spired Kirkbride Building, the only one remaining in the State of Michigan. Parts of the main building have been cleaned and converted for retail residential and restaurant use, and when I was there construction workers were actively cleaning and evidently renovating the rest of the massive building. Additionally, the large, 480-​acre complex has quite a few impressive heavily forested trails leading into the hills.
However, there were quite a few issues that negatively affected this rating. Notably, there was little information about the place and it was fairly difficult to reach from downtown, basically taking me two miles of walking to find. The shops at this point were too few to attract more than locals-​some twenty boutique shops, fine-​dining restaurants, bakeries and galleries. The juxtaposition between the old mental asylum and the new shops was also quite strange, especially on an overcast day. Still, I am hopeful about this place. Better public transportation linking it with the downtown area, much more shops, perhaps even preservation and a public tour of sections of the old asylum to further add character to the complex, and this place may take off.

The spires of the old mental hospital are visible from the parking lot of the nearby Meijer (which I understand used to be a corn field belonging to the property), and so one evening towards the end of our Interlochen sojourn, my fellow interns and I decided to explore the grounds. A couple of us had been there before during daylight, though not early enough to actually visit the shops. Our exploration took place at dusk, which really is the best time to walk around and look at old creepy buildings. It is really an odd place to get around if you haven’t been there before. Only a couple of the buildings have actually been renovated and look safe to be around — the others still retain that abandoned building look which is so fascinating. This really is a place that you should have a local historian along with you to tell stories as you gaze up at the dreary walls and glassless windows. I only wish we had a chance to see what it was like when the shops were open and people were actually present.