Plans unveiled for $650M Red Wings arena, entertainment district in Detroit

**mikeg19** · February-07-14, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by jt1

mikeg - Do you also expect Lucy to allow Charlie Brown to kick the football even though she has pulled it out from under him every time?

Hey, maybe, just maybe, one day I'm gonna turn on that Thanksgiving day special, and Charlie is gonna kick Lucy in the face and steal the ball.

**downtownguy** · February-07-14, 04:27 PM

Originally Posted by Hypestyles

There should have been a formal Community Benefits Agreement, with ways to hold Olympia Entertainment legally accountable for hiring Detroit residents in temporary construction and post-construction ongoing jobs.

Nancy Kaffer addresses this in a column in today's Free:

Plenty of blame for Detroit arena deal's shortcomings

**jt1** · February-07-14, 04:29 PM

Originally Posted by mikeg19

Hey, maybe, just maybe, one day I'm gonna turn on that Thanksgiving day special, and Charlie is gonna kick Lucy in the face and steal the ball.

That would be great. Here's to hoping that Ilitch's plans kick me in the face

**rb336** · February-07-14, 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by Hypestyles

There should have been a formal Community Benefits Agreement, with ways to hold Olympia Entertainment legally accountable for hiring Detroit residents in temporary construction and post-construction ongoing jobs.
What was the breakdown on the yea/nay votes?

The CBA put forth by the Corridor Alliance was ludicrous on SO many levels. The casinos, DMC and school projects all had problems achieving 30% Detroit residents for any of the skilled trades, and CA wanted 51%. It's one thing to say "they should do x, y and z" and quite another to have to deal with reality

**MikeyinBrooklyn** · February-07-14, 05:26 PM

I think that labor targets are absurd. Every business should staff itself with the best possible workers. You want a lot of Detroiters working at the new arena? Spend the next 3 years getting high school dropouts to get their GED and basic work and social skills. Then, when they are hiring, they stand a chance of being a good employee. Do you want someone making change for you at the concession stand who can't do the math? Bad business practices are not the reasons unemployed Detroiters don't have jobs. A huge amount of our citizens don't bring any value with them when going to get a job. And that is a harder problem to solve than rebuilding downtown.

**rb336** · February-07-14, 08:58 PM

Originally Posted by MikeyinBrooklyn

Do you want someone making change for you at the concession stand who can't do the math?

was at a McDonald's in...Chelsea, I think. The girl [[18-20 yo) had trouble counting the change. No one at those stores needs to do the math anymore, the registers do it. She had difficulty COUNTING 94 cents

**detroitpride313** · July-19-14, 09:27 AM

It looks like the Free Press in unveiling the new attend plans tomorrow: http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/d..._arena_en.html

**401don** · July-19-14, 09:51 AM

Originally Posted by detroitpride313

It looks like the Free Press in unveiling the new attend plans tomorrow: http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/d..._arena_en.html

Hopefully this includes the actual arena design but it's unusual not to unveil the design at a press conference.

**gthomas** · July-19-14, 12:25 PM

Excited!! I hope the design is bold, state-of-the art, edgy & classy.

**Mackinaw** · July-19-14, 02:05 PM

Say a prayer for zero surface parking, new buildings along Woodward, preservation of the old limestone buildings, and no street closures outside of arena footprint.

**emu steve** · July-19-14, 04:49 PM

Originally Posted by 401don

Hopefully this includes the actual arena design but it's unusual not to unveil the design at a press conference.

I'm guessing we'll see a conceptual drawing of the arena showing location, direction, etc. [[which we presumably know now, anyway), maybe one or two parking garages, conceptual drawings of one or two more office buildings, etc.

E.g., if it is a conceptual drawing of Woodward, it might have the arena, an office building adjacent north of the arena fronting on Woodward, maybe a new parking garage between Henry and the Fisher, and maybe a new parking garage in the background a few blocks behind Hockey Town. Maybe a conceptual of a few buildings to be rehabbed, etc.

I hope to read the date for ground breaking.

I'm not expecting to see a drawing of the arena which represents what it will look like.

I'm not expecting to see a drawing of say five new buildings no one expected to see built.

I expect that not much will happen beside the arena for say the first 12 months. E.g., the new office building adjacent north of the arena probably won't be ready until say months AFTER the arena is completed.

Phase I is the arena and parking garages.

Phase II is designed to feed off the arena so it doesn't need to precede the arena.

**Novine** · July-19-14, 06:41 PM

I'm sure there will be some shiny toy designed to distract everyone from what's not included. Said toy will likely never materialize or will be a shadow of what's actually promised. I wouldn't expect anything more from Ilitch.

**animatedmartian** · July-19-14, 11:51 PM

I'm glad there's any plans at all. I half expected the stadium to be under construction without any announcement.

**stinkytofu** · July-20-14, 12:12 AM

Bill Shea @Bill_Shea19 · 50m

Want to see what the new #RedWings arena looks like? And the massive entertainment district? Go to http://CrainsDetroit.com in the morning.

**emu steve** · July-20-14, 03:32 AM

Originally Posted by stinkytofu

Bill Shea @Bill_Shea19 · 50m

Want to see what the new #RedWings arena looks like? And the massive entertainment district? Go to http://CrainsDetroit.com in the morning.

Nothing yet.

Wonder if this is an embargoed story for say later this morning?

**Vic01** · July-20-14, 04:45 AM

http://www.freep.com/article/2014072...arena-district

The Ilitch organization envisions its new hockey arena as a springboard for five new neighborhoods to rise up around the venue, transforming the landscape between downtown and Midtown into a thriving urban community.

Lots of "related links" in this story

**emu steve** · July-20-14, 04:49 AM

Just reviewing it now.

How does one say it: St. Michael or St. Christoper [[Ilitch), savior of [[downtown/midtown) Detroit...

Sounds like a grand, grand plan....

**Vic01** · July-20-14, 04:54 AM

be sure to check out some of those other links... that's where the real info is at

**emu steve** · July-20-14, 04:58 AM

I'm seeing buildings along the front of Comerica Park where surface p*rking is now [[is parking considered a 4 or 7 letter here.).

**stinkytofu** · July-20-14, 07:51 AM

That rendering shows the Eddystone and Park Avenue still alive. We'll see how much of this holds true, but I'm very happy about that.

**emu steve** · July-20-14, 08:26 AM

Originally Posted by stinkytofu

That rendering shows the Eddystone and Park Avenue still alive. We'll see how much of this holds true, but I'm very happy about that.

I noticed that too.

**Lowell** · July-20-14, 09:02 AM

As the presentation of the new arena renderings is a milestone on this topic we are closing this thread. Please following the link below to continue conversation in the new thread:
Iltich Announces Huge Plans For Red Wings Arena Project [[7/20/2014)