There is an interesting history of the site on the Discovery Center website. The property was accepted by Rotary Camps & Services in December 2006 with six buildings on site. A cinder-block boat maintenance building with retail showroom, a house previously converted to offices, and four steel-sided “pole barns” for workshops and storage. The member organizations have done a remarkable job converting the exiting buildings to functional work spaces. The adaptive reuse of the existing structures is as follows:
- Cinder block building - converted by Great Lakes Children’s Museum into a hands-on children’s museum,
- House/office - converted by Watershed Center into a an energy efficient and green office space,
- Two steels-sided buildings – adapted by Maritime Heritage Alliance into workshops, including a modern instructional workshop,.
- One steel-sided building adapted by Great Lakes Children’s Museum into storage and workshop, and
- Largest steel-sided building used as boat storage for members and to generated revenue for site.
For the purposes of this project planning, the following bulleted list calls out some of the key milestones of the Discovery Center over the past six years.
- Incorporated as Grand Traverse Bay Alliance – 2006
- Mike Dow donates property – December 2006
- IRS 501(c)(3) tax exempt status – 2008
- Great Lakes Children’s Museum opens – Sept 2006
- Buildings painted in campus-wide color scheme – 2007
- Watershed Center opens offices – May 2008
- Maritime Heritage Alliance’s new instructional workshop – 2009
- Low-impact landscape improvements – Summer 2009
- Sign unveiled – June 2009
- Courtyard displays begin – Summer 2010
- Inaugural Discovery Day – June 26, 2011
