According to a 2025 report from the Global Wellness Institute, the global wellness economy is worth a whopping $6.8 billion – more than major industries like sports, tourism, and the pharmaceuticals.
No wonder that two of local business concepts making waves recently are proposed wellness ventures.
One, a wellness resort proposed for 100 acres at the top of Timberlee Hill in Leelanau County, drew pushback from local residents in 2023 and never completed its permitting process.
The other, a “wellness-based sanctuary” with soaking and sauna culture at its heart (conceptual drawing pictured), was proposed as a potential use for the Bijou by the Bay building, but hangs in limbo.
In December 2022, the Elmwood Township planning commission held the first public hearing for Wellevity, a project seeking to bring lodging, a spa and fitness center, a retail market, a restaurant and bar, a “meditation dome,” an event venue, and other features to 100 acres of vacant land at the top of the former Timberlee Resort. Developers described Wellevity as a full-service wellness resort that would offer “all facets of holistic wellness in one place.”
Following pushback – among other criticisms, neighbors fretted Wellevity would bring excessive light, noise and traffic – developers asked the Elmwood planning commission in 2023 to table their application indefinitely. Marc S. McKellar, attorney for the developers, said his clients had been “listening to the individuals in the surrounding neighborhoods” and wished “to propose a major amendment to the current application.”
A “Version 1.2” application arrived in November 2024, but has yet to receive a public hearing. According to Sarah Clarren, Elmwood Township’s planner and zoning administrator, the application is still “incomplete” because of a supplemental application calling for the inclusion of single-family homes lots.
“As the application has been submitted, those proposed lots don’t meet a few requirements of the zoning ordinance,” Clarren says. “There has been discussion of a condominium, but ultimately, the matter has not been resolved. Until it is clarified and resolved with a supplemented application which is determined to be complete, we are unable to move an application before the planning commission.”
Wellness was back in the headlines this spring when Paper Birch Properties was one of two applicants to the City of Traverse City’s request-for-proposals (RFP) for the Bijou by the Bay building in Clinch Park. Paper Birch’s proposal touts a “modern spin on ancient communal bathing traditions,” featuring a series of soaking pool, sauna, steam room and cold plunge experiences.
Sean O’Brien, designer for the project, believes this kind of community wellness center would be a good fit for Traverse City based on the rise of a Minnesota-based Cedar and Stone Sauna, a manufacturer of saunas and bathhouses.
“I was impressed by how quickly that that part of the country ballooned into a sort of epicenter of sauna culture,” O’Brien says of Minnesota. “And meanwhile, there weren’t really any similar major destination environments happening in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula.”
Emboldened by the launch of Michigan Sauna Fest in Traverse City last year, O’Brien approached Kyle and Angelique Norman of Traverse City’s Nossa Norman Design Studio to see if they’d be interested in helping northern Michigan’s first sauna culture community center. The trio took the plunge by responding to the Bijou RFP.
So far, it’s been a bumpy road. In March, news broke that the city planned to reject the proposals from both Paper Birch and the other applicant, Studio Anatomy. Parks Director Michelle Hunt wrote that both submissions “were incomplete and/or did not align with the business model criteria established by the city for this partnership.”
Still, the Paper Birch team remains optimistic. Paper Birch presented their concept to the parks and recreation commission at an April 7 meeting, and Kyle Norman says he’s continued to have communications with Hunt about the proposal process.
“She had a question about some potential operating agreement terms, and then she followed up and said the city manager wanted to let us know that the proposals would be on the agenda for the May 4 city commission meeting,” Norman says of his April talks with Hunt. “So, we’re not totally giving up on this building just yet.”
Angelique says she’s been heartened by the (mostly) positive response to the bathhouse concept.
“We had a lot of folks reach out to us after, saying, ‘What can we do? How can we help? We need something like this in our community,’” Angelique says.
Not all the reception has been positive, though. Angelique says some of the backlash around Wellevity seems to have stuck to the local wellness economy, creating assumptions about Paper Birch.
“At a high level, we are seeing a real and growing demand for wellness-oriented and alcohol-free spaces in Traverse City, especially those that are community-centered and accessible,” Kyle adds. “That is one of the key differences between Paper Birch and projects like Wellevity. While Wellevity was positioned as a destination resort in a more secluded setting, Paper Birch is intended to be an inclusive, everyday gathering space where people can connect, engage and prioritize wellness as part of their daily lives.”
This is excerpted from a longer feature in the May Traverse City Business News.