Norte Youth Cycling's new pump track opened in the northwest corner of the Grand Traverse County Civic Center on Friday, Oct. 2. Crews took down the construction fencing and signs right after the 10 a.m. ribbon cutting, The Ticker reported. It took five years to get from the first lease to opening day. The track is also only the first of three planned pieces. The other two are timed to Grand Traverse County moving its own maintenance operation out of a Civic Center building and across town.
That link explains why the asphalt loop is here this fall while the classrooms, the bike library and the traffic-safety garden are still a year or more away. It also tells you what to watch if you want to know when the rest of the north end of the park will change.
What's on the asphalt right now
A pump track is a loop of rollers and banked turns you can ride without pedaling. Riders keep their speed by pumping their bodies through the bumps. That's how The Ticker described the concept in 2021. The Civic Center version is a 12,000-square-foot circular loop of asphalt rollers and berms, according to the Record-Eagle.
Here's what has been published about using it:
- Cost: It's free and open to the public.
- What can ride it: Bicycles, scooters, rollerblades and skateboards are allowed, per the Record-Eagle's opening-day coverage.
- What can't: Anything motorized or electric-powered. Norte told UpNorthLive that "people-powered" vehicles are welcome "but nothing with a motor."
- When it's closed: Norte will also use the track for its own programs, so it may be closed to the public at times. Otherwise, anyone can use it at any time, UpNorthLive reported.
- Who it's for: Norte describes it as a place for "riders of all ages and abilities to build skills, confidence, and a love of cycling."
Some things haven't been published, and we won't guess at them. There are no posted hours beyond the "any time" language. There's no published helmet rule, no age guidance for different skill lines, and no maintenance schedule. Norte hasn't posted a winter or snow policy either, so how the track handles its first Northern Michigan winter is still an open question.
Five years, two corners of the park
The pump track came out of the Civic Center master plan that Grand Traverse County Parks and Recreation adopted in 2020, UpNorthLive noted. The route from that plan to this month went like this:
- May 2021. Parks and Recreation commissioners voted unanimously for a 15-year lease with Norte to start building a Grand Traverse Bike Education Center. The plan put it on two acres in the southeast corner near the basketball courts. Phase one was the pump track plus a safety garden, with an estimated cost of about $500,000. The track was to be designed by Velosolutions.
- October 2023. Norte's executive director told The Ticker that early bids and more study showed that moving the project to the northwest corner could take millions off the price and preserve the "natural park space" in the southeast corner. The catch was that the new plan meant Norte would take over the park's maintenance building.
- May 2025. A state Revitalization and Placemaking grant included $237,000 for the track.
- Spring 2026. County commissioners approved a land lease with Norte for the track on a 7-1 vote, subject to an amendment that addressed issues several commissioners had raised. In May, The Ticker reported construction was set to start in July.
- Oct. 2, 2026. The ribbon was cut, followed by a free open house the next morning with loaner bikes and helmets.
Moving from the southeast corner to the northwest corner is what tied the track to the county's building plans. The cheaper site worked because a building was already standing there. That building wasn't free yet.
The same three pieces, three schedules
The track is the only piece that needed nothing but ground.
| Piece | 2021 plan | 2023 plan | Latest reporting, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pump track | Phase one, southeast corner | Install "next year," northwest corner | Opened Oct. 2, 2026 |
| Bicycle safety garden | Phase one, with the track | Complete by end of 2025 | Possibly open spring or summer 2028, about $300,000 |
| Bike education center | Phase two, new building | Renovated maintenance building, by end of 2025 | Phase two lease of the Facilities Building, not yet approved |
The 2023 timeline depended on that building becoming available. Back then, the county's facilities study was still being finished. Norte's executive director told The Ticker that if the maintenance building didn't come through, Norte and Parks and Recreation would work out other options. The building eventually did come into the plan, just on the county's schedule rather than Norte's.
The building Norte is waiting on
At the spring 2026 commission meeting, County Parks and Recreation Director John Chase laid out the next step, according to the Record-Eagle. Phase two would need a separate lease, reviewed by commissioners and the county's civil counsel, for the park's 8,000-square-foot Facilities Building. Norte would turn it into a Bicycle Education Center.
As presented, the deal would look like this:
- A 25-year lease with two 10-year renewal options
- Classrooms, a library of more than 1,000 bicycles, a maintenance shop, a camp base and staff offices
- About $1.3 million in renovations, paid entirely by Norte
- About $42,000 a year in rent to the county, which would cover the county's ongoing oversight of the building's utilities
Norte would move in after the county relocates to its new Central Operations Building at the LaFranier campus. The county broke ground on that project, called Project Alpha, on May 12, 2026, and its groundbreaking notice gave an expected completion of early summer 2027. We haven't found any reporting since the spring meeting that confirms commissioners approved the Facilities Building lease. For now, phase two is still a proposal.
The third phase, the Bicycle Safety Garden, would have streets, crosswalks and traffic-safety features where young riders can practice road skills. Norte Executive Director Jill Wilson told the Record-Eagle that some local companies and donors have shown interest in funding it in exchange for naming rights on some of its features.
Who paid for the 12,000 square feet
Norte paid for the track, and the money came from several places. Besides the $237,000 state grant, the Record-Eagle listed $50,000 from the county's marijuana revenue fund plus support from the Rotary Club of Traverse City and the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation. As of spring 2026, Wilson put the total at "just over $600,000 of funds toward this total project."
For comparison, the 2021 estimate for phase one was about $500,000, and that figure covered both the track and the safety garden. The garden is now a separate phase with its own estimate of about $300,000.
That $237,000 is the track's share of a bigger award. In May 2025, The Ticker reported that Grand Traverse County received $992,084 in state Revitalization and Placemaking funds, through an application filed in partnership with Norte. The money covers three Civic Center projects: a renovated and expanded south building with accessible restrooms, the pump track, and new entrance signs and landscaping. The Ticker noted that the later Norte phases are not covered by that grant. The full package was estimated at $1,984,169, and Norte had $226,500 lined up as a local match at that point.
Where the track sits in a busy park
The Civic Center covers 45 acres. In 2023, the county estimated it draws about one million visitors a year. Norte has been part of the park for a decade. It started renting the south building as a clubhouse in 2016 and added the larger building along the walking trail with the Norte name in 2018. The south building has since been torn down, and the spring reporting said it would be replaced later in the summer. We haven't found a follow-up confirming the replacement is finished.
"Being at the Civic Center means that we are centrally located, which means we are more accessible," Wilson told the Record-Eagle. Norte's other fall riding happens away from the Civic Center. Its Fall Mountain Bike Club rides at Timber Ridge, with a season running Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, according to Norte's program page. For now, the pump track is the only piece of the bike plan you can actually ride at the Civic Center. The next milestone that could change the northwest corner is the county's Central Operations Building opening at LaFranier, targeted for early summer 2027.
At The Crane Group, we follow changes like the Civic Center's northwest corner because they shape daily life in Traverse City's neighborhoods long before anyone puts a sign in a yard. If you'd like to talk about how projects like Norte's education center and the county's LaFranier move fit into your plans in town, we'd be glad to help. Schedule a Free Consultation.
