Visitors to Northport will now have a place to call their own.

The Northport Village Council, in conjunction with the Leelanau Township Chamber of Commerce and other organizations, will open a "visitors center" this summer in the former Sesquicentennial exhibition hall, which was last occupied in 1999.

The building was purchased in 1977 for $190,000 by the village with recreational grant funds from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Village officials were later issued special permission to use the structure during the Sesquicentennial.

In the seven years since, use of the structure was limited to storage of maintenance equipment related to “recreation,” such as rakes used by the Department of Public Works.

“The grant funding restricted what we could do with the property,” said village Trustee Barbara VonVoigtlander of the building, which is located at the corner of Second and Rose streets, adjacent to Haserot Park.

With allowable uses limited to “recreational” purposes, village officials investigated swapping the property for another municipally owned parcel. Thoughts of converting the structure into a museum developed with the creation of the Northport Area Heritage Association.

That option appeared to gain momentum when the village purchased the former site of “The Shipwreck,” a waterfront gift shop next to the marina park.

The village had the lone building on the parcel demolished and spent an estimated $12,000 for required appraisals and legal work to complete the swap. But the alternative also had a catch.

“It couldn’t be property we already owned,” VonVoigtlander said.

Taking a different tack, village officials looked at the list of uses for the property considered consistent with the state’s definition of “recreation-related” and found “visitor center.”

“There are a lot of rules. It precludes using the building as a museum because it’s considered ‘educational,’” she said. “But that doesn’t mean the historical group can’t have a display there.”

Also planned for the center are brochures and information about local businesses, attractions such as the Grand Traverse Lighthouse, activities organized through the Leelanau Township Chamber, and information about the local watershed.

“We hope to have the center open on a limited basis this summer,” VonVoigtlander said.

More extensive use of the center will include bathroom facilities upon completion of the Northport/Leelanau Township municipal sewer. Construction on the project is scheduled to begin this summer.

Creation of the visitors center is just one of several recent developments that many in the community are hailing.

On Tuesday, village resident Bill Collins learned that his application for participation in Michigan State University’s “Small Town Design Initiative” had been approved.

The effort, offered through MSU’s landscaping architecture program, involves MSU students and faculty meeting with local residents to develop design ideas for the community — at no charge. Objectives of the program are to assist communities with populations of 500 to 15,000 to enhance their surrounding area while providing students practical experience.

“I figured since we would have things torn up with construction of the sewer, it would be a good time to consider landscape issues,” said Collins, who completed the program application last month. “Whether their ideas will be implemented is for the community to decide.”

Sale of the “commerce building,” at the southeast corner of Nagonaba and Waukazoo Streets, was also reported this week. The new owners are William and Suzanne Moffett of Northport and Hawaii, but no plans for the building have been announced.

Parkside Management plans to begin rehabilitating portions of the former campus of the former Leelanau Memorial Health Center, the purchase of which was completed last week.

“The visitors center is just one more piece of the puzzle,” VonVoigtlander said.