Climate Resiliency Drawing New Buyers To Traverse City

Forbes

28-07-2025

Peek colors in downtown Traverse City, Michigan, just one of the attractive qualities of the ... More climate-resilient Northern Michigan metro.
We're going to hear a lot more about climate-resilient cities in the years ahead. Today, many are only just becoming familiar with the term. But demographers and developers who know Traverse City, Mich. are among those most conversant with the concept.
Each year, the northern Michigan city at the southern tip of Grand Traverse Bay and the Leelanau Peninsula sees greater numbers of incoming climate refugees from the West Coast and Arizona. Home buyers are citing climate change as a main driver convincing them to acquire their primary or secondary homes in or near Traverse City.
As well, the city and its surrounding four-county metropolitan area – home to more than 150,000 residents according to the 2020 U.S. Census -- have a variety of additional attributes to recommend them, from great beaches to water sports, festivals, parks and recreation, a performing arts center, an increasingly vibrant dining scene and not least warm, mild summers that drive its viticulture and cherry-growing industries.
Choice destination
These qualities have not been lost on developers like Freshwater Development founder Andrew McCarthy, a force behind the development of a number of New York City towers before returning to his home state to develop in Traverse City. 'We are focused on bringing premier luxury real estate to Traverse City's climate-resilient market,' he says. 'Traverse City has emerged as a destination of choice for both full-time residents and second-home investors, drawn by its natural beauty, active outdoor lifestyle and ease of access, with direct flights from over 20 major U.S. markets.'
The company is wrapping work on a pair of Traverse City projects, one offering the only full-floor condos in the city with private elevators, garages and rooftop terraces, the other a trio of waterfront brownstone residences with individual boat slips.
Agricultural happenings
Michigan's West Coast takes a back seat only to California when it comes to fresh fruit and biodiversity. Vegetable and fruit farms and wineries pepper the countryside around Traverse City. The vibrancy of the growing area attracted real estate professional Turner Booth, managing partner at Cochran Booth & Company, who regularly visited Northern Michigan as a youth and spent a decade in Manhattan real estate before relocating to the region. The firm's flagship property, The Mill Glen Arbor, is an inn, restaurant, cafe and bakery serving fresh-baked breads and pastries using milled-on-site flours.
The company's hospitality orientation takes a nod from New York City and Chicago and other refined urban markets, and is built on the abundance of local growers, Booth has said. As the Traverse City metro's culinary scene matures, it is attracting well-deserved attention. That spotlight in turn is luring young chefs from Michelin-starred restaurants, who are relocating to Northern Michigan to launch their own dining establishments.
Booth is striving to help ensure a sustainable workforce within the region. 'Good housing options for employees is critical and dovetails nicely with our hospitality operations,' he says. 'A big part of our focus is high-quality housing for the workforce. Addressing hospitality in a silo, without the local workforce simply doesn't make sense.'
Airport expansion
The city's Cherry Capital Airport was designed with the idea only so many incoming flights would be landing. In the early 2000s, when the newest terminal opened, the expectation was for 250,000 to 300,000 annual passengers traversing the terminal. Last year passenger numbers reached 770,000, an increase of nearly 70,000 from the year before. That's necessitated a more than 68,000-square-foot expansion now underway.
As the shoulder season continues to be extended in Northern Michigan, and climate resiliency becomes more of a household word, who's to say there won't be additional expansions necessary once people discover the charms of Traverse City?