Originally Posted by
emu steve
I think many of your assertions are way, way off.
Are you suggesting that the Ilitches AREN'T going through zoning, permitting, etc. etc. for the arena and the other buildings, e.g., parking deck, team buildings, residential buildings on the arena site? OR are you talking about ONE building [[an abandoned hotel)?
If this project [[the two shuttered hotels) could be compared to a dog or a horse, some are talking about the tail, the least important part of the animal.
************
As far as the what the community gets back from their $ for sports facilities.
Once again, it is the aggregate which is reported in these studies. Some projects have big payoffs. Some made no sense [[e.g., FedEx Field in suburban D.C.) and quite frankly one could see it from day one. Many of these were dumped into suburbia to get them out of the city and there was NOT any plan to use them as a catalyst for urban development. They were DESIGNED [[stupidly) as a place where suburbanites drove to, parked, watched and drove home. Man, I can remember the arena built in early 70s in Richfield, Ohio [[think it was 25 miles from Cleveland and near NOTHING).
If that is what you want, then one should not expect anything greater.
This project seems to have as great a payoff as any sports facility I've seen with the exemption of Nationals Park and Verizon Center, both in D.C., where a sports facility attracts development money. I watched as the Nationals Park was approved by the D.C. council how bidding contests developed for real estate from the stadium site to the SE Expressway.
Surprisingly, if one gets off this forum and into the 'real world' [[this forum is NOT a true representation of the Metro Detroit area. It is a very skewed 'sample', heavily weighted toward certain interests, e.g., historic preservation.), one will find very, very different opinions.
Just talk to the business and political leaders. As best I can tell, this arena has the wholehearted support of the most influential business leaders and politicians [[e.g., the mayor, the governor, etc.).
Does anyone here doubt the wisdom of Dan Gilbert? Would anyone say "I'm right and Dan is wrong. He doesn't know anything about sports facilities and real estate development"?