Ilitch announces Huge plans for Red Wings Arena Project - Renderings Released

[bailey]

I'm pretty sure you said this about the M-1 tram...of course what did you think about Book Cadillac, Broderick Tower, Compuware?

I have been very critical of the M1 RAIL plan. Why? because its a trolley not the rail it was sold as, it's stupid, it's being designed by people that are ignoring experts, and it's what? 1/3 it's original size and will be completed 5-6 years late? It should be no where near as complicated, but this region has morons at the helm.

But I think you're missing my point here, I don't think that public incentives should never be used, I just think we should stop giving it to Olympia because of their ATROCIOUS record in this area.

Anyways...just because this may or may not get built doesn't mean it's not a bold plan. This is a bold plan. What did I hear? The largest building undertaking since the Renaissance Center? 40 years of scaled back projects or nothing, then this!

and you think this won't be scaled back in the same fashion? there is NO real commitment from anyone to do ANYTHING other than the stadium, parking and some nice landscaping. There is a commitment to think about it at some later point and time.

Olympia and Red Wings team offices will be connected to the arena, as will apartments, restaurants, retail, parking garages and other to-be-decided development.

This plan is as bold as announcing a "plan" to build a Burj Tower on the Hudson's block....with nothing but the drawings to back it up.

I'm pretty left of center but believe in the capitalist system in most instances. Many people cry, "let the private sector build it!". Now that the private sector wants to build something, we are dispraging it. I think some of you are pissy because it's an interesting and engaging plan coming from an unlikely source.

I'm critical of this plan not because there is public money. I'm for public/private investments like this. I'm less than enthusiastic about it because the people behind it have a pretty fucking awful track record with following through on the "district" part of their "stadium district" plans. I'm disgusted that the guy most repsonsible for detroit being a wasteland of surface parking for a generation is not being told to fuck right off with his demands for subsidy. And I'm disgusted at the City for letting Olympia get away with it. . What I'd like to see is a requirement that the "other stuff" in this proposal be completed prior to public dollar number one being spent on the stadium or the parking decks.

Like a pharoah building a pyramid.

Exactly, perfect analogy. Like a pyramid, the stadium surrounded by parking decks will be an enormous, largely empty edifice with limited functionality.

Look, I like that the wings are moving out of JLA. I hope that gets ripped down and more of the riverfront is opened up. I hope each and every part of this plan is built and more. I'm just saying, if past performance and past claims of this very same organization are taken into account, all we're going to get is another barn surrounded by parking.