This Winter on Traverse City's South Side Belongs to the Smaller Openings

Of everything announced this year for South Airport Road, Garfield Avenue and the US-31 corridor, how much will be open by the first real snow?

Less than the headlines suggest. As of mid-October, none of the biggest announcements is open. That list includes the Short's Brewing taproom at Logan's Landing, the subdivided former Macy's at the Grand Traverse Mall, the Chipotle outlot and the return of K1 Speed. What you can use this winter is a trampoline park, a four-bay golf simulator studio, a Mediterranean bowl counter, a card and collectibles shop and a consignment furniture gallery.

The doors already open

Altitude Trampoline Park at 1144 South Airport Road is the biggest indoor recreation space now running at Cherryland Center. Altitude's Traverse City page lists trampolines, air bags, dodgeball, basketball and birthday and group events. Posted hours run Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday noon to 8 p.m. It has a loose end. The Ticker reported in August that Garfield Township planning commissioners denied Altitude's request for a waiver on a required new sidewalk along South Airport Road. The park is operating under a temporary certificate of occupancy while the township works with the property and business owners to get the sidewalk built.

A few minutes east, the Traverse City Golf Performance Center began operating on October 1 in the former Swing Theory space at Four Mile and US-31. 9&10 News reported that the center kept the four-bay TrackMan setup and added several things a casual simulator room doesn't usually offer. Members get 24/7 "Member After Hours" access. The site also has club fitting and equipment demos built on swing data, a retail area for apparel and training aids, and a new PGA Teaching Professional, Nathan Beachey, who is the organization's fifth PGA pro. Round-the-clock access does the most work in a Northern Michigan winter, because a 6 a.m. session before the plows finish doesn't depend on anyone else's posted hours.

The rest of the open list is smaller but useful:

• Pita Way opened its first Traverse City location in the Cherryland Center outlot next to Starbucks. It serves build-your-own bowls plus curry and lentil soups, open Monday through Saturday 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Treysian's Treasures, a trading card game, video game and collectibles shop, moved to 821 South Garfield Avenue next to Pedego Electric Bikes. It's open Wednesday and Thursday noon to 8 p.m. and Friday through Sunday noon to 10 p.m.
• Curated Classics runs a 5,000-square-foot consignment furniture and decor gallery on US-31 next to Red Lobster. It's open Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Treysian's keeps the latest hours of anything on that list, open until 10 p.m. on weekend nights. That's later than Altitude stays open on any night of the week.

The ones with a calendar attached

The four larger projects all have public timelines, and some of those timelines have already slipped. Here is where each one stands:

1. Two Brothers at 1776 South Garfield Avenue, behind Cherryland Center. As of mid-October, the business's homepage says it is not open yet and gives "Late Fall OF 2026" as its target. The plan combines indoor and outdoor off-leash dog play with a café, coffee and food, and locally made beer, wine, cider and mead. It also lists day camp, training, self-service grooming and events. It's the one major corridor project that could still open before the new year.
2. K1 Speed. The go-kart center closed temporarily in early June. In August, a company spokesperson told The Ticker that K1 was finalizing an agreement to make Traverse City a corporate-owned center and expected to reopen "within the next couple of weeks." That window has passed. In mid-October, K1's own closures page still listed Traverse City as temporarily closed.
3. Short's Brewing Company at Logan's Landing. The taproom planned with Keen covers roughly 10,000 square feet of the 16,000-square-foot property. Plans include on-site brewing, food, indoor and outdoor seating, a 1,600-square-foot deck and a riverside tiki deck that could host music and events, according to The Ticker. MLive reported in July that floodwater eroded part of the exterior deck but didn't get into the building. The partners were still targeting May 1, 2027.
4. The former Macy's at the Grand Traverse Mall. In April, owner Lormax Stern described plans for a national organic-food grocer, a national bookstore, an outdoor-apparel retailer and an upscale apparel store, with some openings expected in 2027 and others in 2028. By late September construction looked stalled. Owner Daniel Stern told The Ticker that the company is "hoping to announce the new tenant lineup in the coming months."

Two of these four have firm targets, and both are in 2027 or later. The one that could open soonest is the locally owned dog park, not a national brand.

The ones without a current date

A third group has no current opening date. One never had a date, one missed its target and one has only a season attached, so none of them belongs in a January plan yet.

Chipotle is planned for a 2,385-square-foot outlot in the former Macy's parking lot near South Airport Road. It would have a pickup window for app and website orders but no traditional drive-through. No opening date has been announced.

Cluckery TC is a fried-chicken counter in the Grand Traverse Mall food court from Zhending Hu and Jazmine Scott. The last public timeline, published in early August, called for a mid-August opening, a date that has since passed. The menu was set to include classic and spicy chicken sandwiches, hand-battered strips, fries and sides. Hu told The Ticker he spent six months developing his own recipes, and he said of the mall, "I think the mall is part of a lot of people's memories." Check the food court before you plan lunch around it.

Second Third First Hand, also called 231 Hand, is Cari Lick's outdoor-gear shop announced for Logan's Landing "this fall," next to Vince's Jewelry and the future Short's taproom. It will sell quality used gear on consignment alongside new products from small, eco-conscious brands, and unsold items can be donated to local outdoor-focused nonprofits. For anyone looking to pick up snowshoes or a used ski jacket before the season gets going, it's the corridor opening to watch most closely.

A January Saturday, built from what exists

Put the open list together and a full winter day on the south side is already possible without any of the projects still in the works:

If Two Brothers opens on its late-fall target, it fits naturally at the end of that list, since it's behind the same shopping center as Altitude and Pita Way. Until then, the day works without it.

One move on the other side of town

The south-side calendar isn't the only one shifting this winter. Bay Bread Company is closing its original Randolph Street shop at the end of the year. Owners Krystal and Scott Fluette say their Lake Avenue location next to Hagerty will be "fully operational with all breads, sweets, sammies, coffees, and so much more" starting January 4. They told customers, in a post reported by The Ticker, that the move is "the natural next step, as our lease is coming to an end on Randolph later in 2027." If your bread run goes through Randolph Street, the last weeks of December are when that changes.

If you're wondering what all this new activity means for the homes and condos near Cherryland Center, Logan's Landing and the mall, Molly Buttleman follows these openings as closely as she follows listings, and she's glad to talk it through. Inquire Now.