The Trench

by Kristin Norrod

2007 Picture Your Place Photo Contest 

Places to Work - Second Place

Building 53, the old laundry facility for the former Traverse City State Hospital, was poised to become the new urban winery in The Village at Grand Traverse Commons...but first, it needed fresh plumbing. This trench was the first of many that were dug, by MAM Contracting, to accommodate the elaborate system of pipes necessary for renovating the half-century old structure. This is where I work. Well...not in the trench, exactly...you know what I mean. As an employee of MAM Contracting, I have been able to experience, firsthand, the amazing transformation of an ex-asylum to the vibrant village that is now coming into its own. When I hopped into that trench, I could see for the first time that the building was actually welcoming this change...Its enormous windows spilling sunlight onto the chilled workers, and its considerable ceiling height lending a pleasant echo to the foreman's whistle. That indomitable mass of bricks sat awkwardly vacant for so many years, just waiting for this inevitable conversion. Was Building 53 destined to become a winery? Some say so. Left Foot Charley Winery is a perfect fit inside the old laundry building, and in the community that we now call The Village.