What is going on at Red Wings arena site?

[Dan_the_man]

Are you sure?

It was always my understanding that they had to spend 200M+ themselves, exclusive of any other monies spent...

Sorry, haven't been on here in a minute, but here's a clip from the Memorandum of Understanding between the city and the Illitches. They only need to cause the development to happen, unless something changed after this document was written.

[emu steve]

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/bus...rena/74032544/

i believe this article answers that the Ilitches own the entire block across from the Masonic.

[MSUguy]

We've got steel going in now

[MSUguy]

Ilitch consultant: Residents key to Arena District development

The urban planning consultant for the Ilitch family's grand vision of a sprawling mixed-use rehabilitation of 50 blocks around the new Detroit Red Wings arena said people living in the district are the key to making it work.

"What we want is a great walkable, personable neighborhood made of as many people living their lives as possible," said Richard Heapes, co-founder and managing partner of White Plains, N.Y.-based Street-Works.

The company was hired by the Ilitches' Olympia Development of Michigan to be the lead urban planning designer of its The District Detroit plan of residential, retail, bars, restaurants, offices and green spaces around the $532.5 million arena, which is slated to open in 2017.
Street-Works specializes in mixed-use and commercial development, planning and financing, and it's bringing that expertise to bear on Olympia's plans.

"Our key strategy is to have residential almost on every block coordinated with new development," Heapes said. "That's the strategy, there is residential everywhere."
The area immediately around the arena will have around 200 apartments and condos intended to appeal to a range of demographics from single or new-family millennials to empty-nest boomers.
"You can't have a neighborhood without neighbors," Heapes said.
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...ct-development

Looking at some of their other projects around the country they've some pretty nice stuff.

http://www.streetworks-studio.com/portfolio/

[emu steve]

Looking at some of their other projects around the country they've some pretty nice stuff.

http://www.streetworks-studio.com/portfolio/

Good read...

"This thing is going to be fired up 180 days a year, during the whole breadth of the year," he said.

'This thing' is the arena.

I like this statement: 200 housing units in the immediate area + the Eddystone units.

So the idea is to have 200+ housing units close by + up to 3,000 WSU business students. All are designed to make the area come alive every day a year.

[mikeg19]

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/nh...ings/75146890/

Gondola seating! Video Boards! Practice Rink! Pony Rides! Ok maybe not the last one, but $95M in private funding for the enhancements. Wonder what the view from those gondola seats is gonna be like?

[emu steve]

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/nh...ings/75146890/

Gondola seating! Video Boards! Practice Rink! Pony Rides! Ok maybe not the last one, but $95M in private funding for the enhancements. Wonder what the view from those gondola seats is gonna be like?

I was a season ticket holder for one year at the old Olympia.

The balcony there had a hangover [[oops, bad expression) which was a neat place to watch a game. This seems similar.

The good old days when arena were small and intimate.

[Mackinaw]

If I understand correctly, I will be able to watch the game in a ski-lift looking apparatus suspended by cable over the ice? Will this run from one side of the arena to the other? Not a bad idea to shorten the time spent walking in the concourse.

Alternatively, this is a boat like the ones they use in Venice. Will there be a canal around the rink? This sounds like a tremendous view.

If "gondola" has been utilized to describe something else in the context of a pro sports venue, I sure would like to know. The Free Press sure as shit aint telling us what it is, and I am not sure Olympia even knows the meaning of the words it is using...

[401don]

I'm sure this arena will have many smaller sections stacked up along with the luxury suites so the true upper section will be a mile high. Yet they will promote it as being close to the action because it is not set back. I actually prefer a greater setback and fewer tiers ala Comerica Park. The other ballparks - Cincy, Cleveland, Camden Yards, etc. the upper deck is way too high. The Air Canada Centre in Toronto is great because there's only one row of suites. The rest are in the end zones and there is no middle deck but I doubt we will see that here.

[Mackinaw]

Comerica is an terrible model. WAY too far back. I get your point about minimal stacking, but cannot see how setback is a good thing.

[401don]

If I understand correctly, I will be able to watch the game in a ski-lift looking apparatus suspended by cable over the ice? Will this run from one side of the arena to the other? Not a bad idea to shorten the time spent walking in the concourse.

Alternatively, this is a boat like the ones they use in Venice. Will there be a canal around the rink? This sounds like a tremendous view.

If "gondola" has been utilized to describe something else in the context of a pro sports venue, I sure would like to know. The Free Press sure as shit aint telling us what it is, and I am not sure Olympia even knows the meaning of the words it is using...

Press box row, occupied by both the print and play-by-play guys at old arenas like Maple Leaf Gardens, was a structure hanging by cables from the roof of the building. It was known as the gondola.

[401don]

Comerica is an terrible model. WAY too far back. I get your point about minimal stacking, but cannot see how setback is a good thing.

I agree the setback at Comerica is not good, especially having spent 30 yrs. at Tiger Stadium but I always sit in the Club Seats, upper deck, 1st 5 rows behind home plate, and prefer these to the much higher upper decks in other parks.

[downtownguy]

I was a season ticket holder for one year at the old Olympia.

The balcony there had a hangover [[oops, bad expression) which was a neat place to watch a game. This seems similar.

The good old days when arena were small and intimate.

The right field upper deck at Tiger Stadium truly hung over the field. That wasn't such a big deal because rarely was there any action as far back as the warning track. You could still see the majority of the field from that perspective.

The upper deck at Olympia was very steep, but I'm sure it did not hang over the ice. I sat in those seats dozens of times and it would be impossible to see the ice if it actually hung over it.

[Mackinaw]

If by gondola they mean what you just described about ML Gardens, that would be awesome!

[emu steve]

Comerica is an terrible model. WAY too far back. I get your point about minimal stacking, but cannot see how setback is a good thing.

Comerica is not one of my favorite parks. [[just in case anyone doubts my independent thoughts and feelings).

For example, home plate is too far from the stands. Or the left field stands were designed for steroid-ball [[in case we have players full of juice who can hit a ball 375 feet one handed).

To be 'fair and balanced', the left field scoreboard is a favorite of mine. Some scoreboards in other cities are a waste or wasted...

One ballpark rarely shows any replays. Which is, like why have a big beautiful scoreboard and not show replays. Like, hello...

[SDCC]

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/nh...ings/75146890/

Gondola seating! Video Boards! Practice Rink! Pony Rides! Ok maybe not the last one, but $95M in private funding for the enhancements. Wonder what the view from those gondola seats is gonna be like?

I can't wait to see this when it's completed.

Where's my Facebook "like" button?

[Dbest]

Weren't these same renderings[[or variations) used for other articles about what the stadium area will look like? Like the shot of the plaza, go back and look and its already been shown. Same thing with the video wall.

This is a nice plug for his new gondola seats. Thats the only extra I hadn't seen or heard about. Then again it may be present in the interior renderings of the stadium. Again, nothing we shouldn't have already expected by the renderings previously released.

In other news, I heard Olympia is thinking about adding this awesome scoreboard inside the arena! Heard the announcement could be next week!

[MSUguy]

One thing Crain's mentioned that others didn't the LED roof could be nixed.

One amenity that remains in the discussion stage is having the entire outer roof be an enormous LED screen that could light up and show images or videos. The sheer weight of such as set-up could jeopardize the ability for the arena to rig the aerial equipment for concerts and events, Wilson said.
“It’s one of those things we continue to study,” he said

.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...-details-about

[archfan]

From the Crain's article:
The arena will be 110 feet tall at its peak, which is lower than most arenas and doesn’t dominate the mixed-use development, dubbed The District Detroit, being built on the 12 acres around the facility. The perimeter of the arena will be four stories high. Having the ice and 9,000 seats below grade allows the arena to have a lower profile than many venues. Fans will enter at street level.


“Scale became important when decided to do the district. We brought everything down and put it in the ground,” said Wilson...

I hope this doesn't mean that anything else they build in the district will be low to the ground. That area could use a mix of high- and low-rise buildings.

About half the arena will be encircled with a 90-foot-wide concourse called the Via. It will have a clear plastic roof and look like a city street with restaurants and bars and retail, including street seating for food and drink, Wilson said.

Sigh. It will be almost like a real city street, only clean and well lighted, without the need to interact with actual residents of the city. We shall call it Illitchland.

[Dbest]

I hope this doesn't mean that anything else they build in the district will be low to the ground. That area could use a mix of high- and low-rise buildings.

Tell that to the Park Hotel..

[emu steve]

Tell that to the Park Hotel..

Eddystone and WSU School of Business have/will have height and then blend into structures on Temple [[e.g., Masonic Temple, Americana Hotel, Alhambra Apts.).

Also, I assume a new hotel at Henry and Woodward will have good height [[taller than the main part of the arena). A parking deck on Henry would be mid-rise.

There should be a good mix of high and low-rise buildings, IMO. HOWEVER, if there is too much height and too close to Woodward what does it do for the Crosswinds development across the street?

IMO, the Ilitches did them [[Crosswinds) a big favor by not building a behemoth and close to Woodward. I really believe the Ilitches were 'good neighbors.' Something big like Madison Square Garden would be awful. Development here isn't putting one big building adjacent to other big buildings like one would expect in a downtown.

[Mackinaw]

I do not understand why height is a concern, or why 3/4 stories is better than 6/7. This is Woodward. Today, and in years past [[more so), the entire avenue from Grand Circus to Grand Blvd. is lined with 10-15 story buildings. That so many of these have been removed doesn't make such a height any less appropriate, even if such a height would seemingly "overshadow" another extant structure. Why are we even having this discussion? This is a major city, not Topeka, and this is a central district, not a residential bedroom.

[ndavies]

Lets also not forget the Donovan and Sanders buildings were at the corner of Woodward and I-75 when the Crosswinds Condos were built. The Donavan was 10 stories tall and the Sanders slightly less. It should be no surprise to the owners at Woodward place if a 10+ story building were to be built across the street.

The real problem with tall buildings in Detroit is the amount of parking needed to support a tall building. We still don't have the public transportation system required to support tall sky scrapers. You need almost as much space to park the vehicles as you do for the people. So taller building, bigger parking lot/deck.

[Gistok]

I agree Mackinaw and Ndavies.... why would height be a concern?? Granted the Ilitch's seem to like their projects to be as close to parking lot level as possible.... but being worried about height along Woodward?? WTF? Do the Ilitch/Olympia folks who post this stuff ever think before they type??

The Donovan and Sanders Buildings were once part of the west of Woodward dramatic view from downtown looking northward... along the parade of majestic buildings framing the view...

Their MotorCity Casino project wasn't concerned about going too high when they built their hotel near Grand River... so what lame excuse could they give for needing to keep it low key for the arena district?? Their logic at times is beyond befuddling....

[ndavies]

What once was
Wow, I just realized that was almost 10 years ago.