The Guardian - Not Impressed with District Detroit

[Towne Cluber]

This is all pretty much off-topic nonsense and lack of reading comprehension. Not gonna bother with point-by-point refutation of garbage.

Do you work for the Illitches or something? You seem to have a cult-like veneration of anything related to the Illitches.

You are a very sick person. You hate everything and 75%-80% of the claims that you make are completely made up nonsense. Almost every one of your post on here is some kind of [[poorly) thinly-veiled attempt to smear the people, places, and institutions of Detroit, Michigan, the Midwest, and the United States -- while trying to portray yourself as some kind of elite, highly-educated, and sophisticated person -- which you are certainly not.

[Detroit]

CrashDummy, just so we’re on the same page, WSU’s Mike Ilitch School of Business has nothing to do with Olympia or District Detroit. The Ilitches donated the money allowing its construction. Other than that, they had nothing to do with it.

Actually WSU went on the record in a Detroit news or free press article saying that the business school was going to be built with out without the donation.

[pjbear05]

Seems like the perfect time to develop and capitalize on location. I personally don’t think it’s as simple as stalling or worst still, reneging.

If I had to guess, I’d say:

1. After Mikes death, the family is fragmented and can’t come to a unanimous decision on moving forward, or

2. They can not secure skilled trades labour to start building.

My money is on #1. The same thing happened to Joe Robbie's family [[owner of the Miami Dolphins), and they never recovered, losing the team.

[Detroitnerd]

The new MBA building is basically the dumbest project. I have a family member getting an Wayne MBA and the student body is upset about the project.

Why build it where it is? To understand this, you need to think of the main talent of Olympia. It isn't neighborhood development that's their forte, though -- it's corporate welfare artistry.

Baked into the agreement for public backing of the bonds and the stadium was a side agreement about "spinoff development." If the Ilitches could cause $200 million in ancillary development within the district within the first five years of the first event at LCA, they would reap a $67 million windfall from the DDA.

Back when all these deals were being hammered out, there was an understanding that this meant that Olympia would be courting Class A urban developers to turn the stadium district into a thriving neighborhood. Gov. Snyder had said of the deal, "It’s something that hopefully will be a tax-base generator. Not the arena as much per se, but all the surrounding development.”

But as you add up the "spinoff development," it begins to seem that the Olympia people already knew they were going to cause $200 million in development to appear, but not in the way many had thought.

As I understand it -- and I'm a little foggy on some of the details -- the Ilitch organization announced plans to build Little Caesar's $150 million headquarters on the district's land. The DDA has also accepted their $24 million parking garage as counting toward the "spinoff development" goal. That still left them about $26 million short.

The missing piece would seem to be the $40 million gift to Wayne State University. The [[presumably tax-deductible) gift would likely put them over the top, allowing them to receive the $67 million bonus.

But only as long as it was located within the district.

I'm no big-city lawyer, but it seems to me that the organization had already thrown a dart against the wall, and then drew a bull's-eye around it. When you know you want to build a new HQ anyway, and want to build a money-making parking garage, and you figure you can deduct another donation against your taxes by persuading the university to locate there, you have gamed the public through DDA agreements and tax-deductible write-offs into quietly subsidizing your new HQ.

Unfortunately, yes, the students will have a difficult or expensive task if they want to park near the school. But I believe this was never about their convenience. It was about wringing the most money possible out of these gold-plated "development deals."

[O3H]

As a former WSU student [[late 1980's) I clearly remember PAYING EVERDAY that I parked in the WSU parking structure - for 4 years - along with thousands of other students.

Rough estimates -- Wayne State has 27,500 students at the campus:17,000 undergraduate students, with 8,000 graduate students
and another 2,000 "professional students" .

[archfan]

Why build it where it is? To understand this, you need to think of the main talent of Olympia. It isn't neighborhood development that's their forte, though -- it's corporate welfare artistry.
...

Nice analysis - I think you're right.

[DetroitSoldier]

There is some activity going going on in the retail portion of the Fox where Johnny Rockets used to be. When I walked by yesterday I noticed the space which had been used as offices was gone and it looks like something new is going in there. I hope it is something of good quality.

[JonWylie]

There is some activity going going on in the retail portion of the Fox where Johnny Rockets used to be. When I walked by yesterday I noticed the space which had been used as offices was gone and it looks like something new is going in there. I hope it is something of good quality.

There's a news article out there somewhere but from what I remember its a Cuban restaurant and an "M" Den

[sirrealone]

A few months ago I was driving around the area and I approached LCA from the east. It legit startled me as I was driving through blocks of nothing and suddenly, there's the arena! When they announced District Detroit, it sounded cool but I never had the expectation that it would be built all in one fell swoop. You'd expect that it would be a ripple effect, growing outward from the arena itself. I think the issue is that you would have expected those first ripples to have appeared [[or at least been planned out) yet it seems that hasn't happened. I know the arena is only a year old, but for an arena that's supposed to be filled with activity 150-200 nights per year, that initial push should have been going on alongside the arena itself, and probably would have in many other cities. So the fact that it's a year since opening and they barely have a shovel in the ground on this vision, it's extremely disappointing. And, the critics are right, the Illitches are first in line to receive the blame for this.

[Bill Carver]

It takes time to come from a plan to executing that plan. I’m sure they knew one thing about district detrout. It would have the hockey arena a school and a corporate headquarters. I have no trouble thinking that as detrout improves so will this neighborhood. The district is a dream that can be realized but it’s a bit in the vapors right now. Stay tuned for exciting things.

[hybridy]

interesting comparison to see how Milwaukee is pursing ancillary development around their new arena. time will tell if any of it pans out. note the new arena is next to a 30-story luxury apt tower.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/money...se/3149341002/

Here's a block-by-block breakdown of what Head of the Herd envisions. Each block would include parking structures.
• The former Bradley Center block, between State Street, Phillips Avenue and new portions of Highland Avenue and Fifth Street that will be constructed.
A 10-story, 226-room hotel with a banquet center would anchor this block, which would include a two-level cinema, around 28,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space and 33 apartments on three floors.
• The former Bradley Center parking structure block, just west of the former Bradley Center block.
This block would feature around 106,000 square feet of offices on five floors, 19,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space and 58 apartments on five floors.
• The Park East block bordered by Old World Third Street, Phillips Avenue, Juneau Avenue and McKinley Boulevard.
This site would be primarily for residential use, with 233 apartments on 15 floors. It also would have around 34,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space, including a grocery store.
• The Park East block just to the west of the apartments and grocery store site.
Office space would be this parcel's main use, with around 304,000 square feet on 15 floors planned. The block also would have a seven-story, 200-room hotel and 14,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space.

[401don]

It takes time to come from a plan to executing that plan. I’m sure they knew one thing about district detrout. It would have the hockey arena a school and a corporate headquarters. I have no trouble thinking that as detrout improves so will this neighborhood. The district is a dream that can be realized but it’s a bit in the vapors right now. Stay tuned for exciting things.

Didn't your name used to be Steve?
By the way the freep Tigers beat writer Anthony Fenech had an interview on his podcast with the Crain's writer who wrote the piece about the District failing to live up to promises. I found it interesting that a Tigers beat writer would actually be interviewing this guy.

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/m...ts/3137993002/

[dtowncitylover]

Stay tuned for exciting things.

We've been waiting 25 years.

[O3H]

An artist's rendition of what COULD be is made of smoke and mirrors

[Wesley Mouch]

There is some activity going going on in the retail portion of the Fox where Johnny Rockets used to be. When I walked by yesterday I noticed the space which had been used as offices was gone and it looks like something new is going in there. I hope it is something of good quality.

How long has 'Johnny Rockets' been closed? I suspect there will be business school grads who were in diapers when it was last open.

[detmsp]

You guys, have some patience! The Ilitches are TOTALLY going to make good on all the district promises. They just need to finish up the open-air market [[or Agora as they called it) and apartments they promised as part of the Comerica Park development first. I mean how many developments do you expect them to work on in just a handful of decades?

[EGrant]

How long has 'Johnny Rockets' been closed? I suspect there will be business school grads who were in diapers when it was last open.

10 years ago

[O3H]

[Gistok]

You guys, have some patience! The Ilitches are TOTALLY going to make good on all the district promises. They just need to finish up the open-air market [[or Agora as they called it) and apartments they promised as part of the Comerica Park development first. I mean how many developments do you expect them to work on in just a handful of decades?

Hahaha!! Like your subtle humor.... that Comerica Park Agora was supposed to include a Hard Rock Cafe... and those plans are now 20 years old, replaced by a new market concept with those fabulous [[kidding) festoon lighting...

[Danny]

I wrote to you all on another thread that Mike Illitch and his family are NOT venture real estate capitalists.They are here in Detroit overseeing the progress of Tigers and the Red Wings games, LCA, Their Pizza Pizza Building on Woodward, Keeping the Fox Theater a float. The rest will sit out, rot and become parking lots.

The Illitches are like Dennis Kellifinos, SCUMBAGS!!! slumlords. Dan Gilbert is REAL "Donald Trump-like" venture capitalist and a next corporate raider of Detroit.

[canuck]

I really think this is what the Illitches don't understand. They're old school - and I mean that in the worst way. Having had their business come of age in 1958 in a strip mall, I get the impression that is where the mindset got stuck. In those days, urban = bad and decay. In that era were busy trying to implode Corktown and Woodbridge because they were icky and old, to say nothing of predominantly black areas! So I don't think the Illitches can fundamentally understand urban development/redevelopment without a huge demolition a la urban renewal component. I don't think they're bad people, unlike, say, the Marouns. I think they do care about Detroit on some level, but are like the alcoholic father who beats his child "out of love."

And my wife used to work in a firm that worked with Olympia. Believe me, it is the stone age. MadMen, but not in a cool way.

I really wish they'd just run their shitty pizza joint and keep to themselves. And get out of the Tigers for God's sake.

I'm sorry if a bit late but couldn't help myself thanking you for this post. Very funny, and true.

However, like many people who contributed to this thread, you don't seem to "grasp" how beautiful a surface parking lot can be.

[Gistok]

Chris Ilitch showed his true colors back in 2005 when the Madison-Lenox was razed. Richard Moe of the National Trust For Historic Preservation tried to contact him that year, but Chris never returned his calls.

So the National Trust put the United Artists Building on the cover of their next quarterly magazine, and they were shamed nationally back then, when the windows were all painted with graffiti and the theatre was open to scavengers.

[O3H]

Progress is not always in the "preservation" mode.
It steamrolls forward with each tick-tock of the second hand.

[Gistok]

Progress is not always in the "preservation" mode.
It steamrolls forward with each tick-tock of the second hand.

If you are an Ilitch, then Steamrolling is the method of choice... but if you are a Gilbert, a Forbes, Ford, etc... then you see the wisdom in preservation.

[DetroitSoldier]

I have noticed lights on inside the Eddystone the last few days. Should I read anything into this? I will certainly not be holding my breath.