What is going on at Red Wings arena site?

[Zads07]

Look EMU Steve, I truly enjoy this forum and the conversations it provides. We as members have great give and take. But it's so very clear that you love the Ilitches. I don't know how, with all the evidence we have presented to you that you still believe they have the city's best interest in mind.

All I pointed out was the issue here is that a building next to LCA finally is getting blight tickets. You decided to raise the point that they should have done something with the building after all that time they owned it otherwise they wouldn't be in this position.

Coincidentally, Ilitch has done nothing with numerous properties he owns, in fact, lets them deteriorate to the point where it's an eyesore and they don't get blight tickets but you seem to not raise an issue there, only if it's a non-Ilitch property do you care.

This is what we have a problem with. Your blind allegiance to Olympia is obvious and it hurts your credibility in terms of having a conversation about it. We know what to expect when this topic comes up.

[emu steve]

I consider this whole series of posts on that house a big 'nothing burger.'

The house isn't historic, is owned by a owner hoping to get rich, in the way [[I think) of further work probably on the Eddystone, etc.

If this house was at say 3rd and Peterboro and someone wanted to tear it down, including the city, hardly anyone would care.

But on this forum tearing down a dog house is enough to cause a flurry of posts and a 12-person demonstration...

[southen]

I care less about the house and more about blatant hypocrisy.

[emu steve]

I care less about the house and more about blatant hypocrisy.

Tell that to Zads he raised the issue and included a half dozen questions...

[Zads07]

Tell that to Zads he raised the issue and included a half dozen questions...

Well, they were legit questions and you decided to be very hypocritical on the topic which was related to Ilitch. Your hypocrisy is obvious and we called it out. Please stop being so blinded by a big corporation set on doing only what they think is best for their own business and not the city of Detroit.

[CrashDummy]

I care less about the house and more about blatant hypocrisy.

That would be great, but I don't think that is the case. Do you really think that steve is the only one that is a hypocrite when it comes to the subject of the Ilitches? I would say the majority of people on this thread are hypocritical about the subject, and it unfortunately damages their credibility when it comes to other subjects.

And while it's fine to address the content that another person posts, I think it's usually out of line to assume someone's motivation for posting a certain position. People post things for different reasons. Some people post based on emotions, some are purely analytical. Some just like to fill in the blanks and post views not already reflected. Others are just trolling hoping to hook someone.

[Zads07]

Wasn't sure whether to start a new topic on this, but it appears after the Free Press published an article on the lack of blight tickets for the Ilitches, some were handed out today.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...ets/636229002/

[stinkytofu]

What's up with the apartment[[?) buildings on the west side of the site? They put up the steel frame and it's probably been at least six months since any work has occurred. It's not the best look to say the least.

[masterblaster]

What's up with the apartment[[?) buildings on the west side of the site? They put up the steel frame and it's probably been at least six months since any work has occurred. It's not the best look to say the least.

There is a design change. Those buildings are going to be offices, no longer residences.

111 Henry St. – This proposed $20 million mixed-use office, retail and parking development would be completed with 50,000 square feet of office space and 7,000 square feet of street-level retail space. It would continue to build on the success of Henry Street’s popular retail and restaurants. Previously designated as residential, this property is now envisioned as office space to meet surging demand for Class A office space in Detroit. 
  
120 Henry St. – This proposed $48 million project would be developed adjacent to Chevrolet Plaza at the new Little Caesars Arena. The development includes 100,000 square feet of office space and 20,000 square feet of street-level retail space. Previously designated as residential, this property is now envisioned as office space to meet surging demand for Class A office space in Detroit. 

http://www.districtdetroit.com/news/...strict-detroit

[mikeg19]

Yea, fine and dandy they wanted to change the programming of that new construction due to demand. Fine. How about those 6 new construction/renovation projects you announced a couple months ago? Or the Eddystone? Or the UA building? Or the Fine Arts facade? Or that new construction on the Tigers lots? It's always Press Releases and Conceptual drawings with Olympia. Dan Gilbert has a news conference, sends out a Press Release, and next Monday there are shovels in the ground. Olympia keeps feeding the media garbage to keep them off their backs.

[CrashDummy]

This may help to explain a little bit of why there has been so little happening with so many projects lately...

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...strategy-shift
"The Ilitch family's Olympia Development of Michigan is hiring, attempting to poach talent from other real estate companies in the region.
This comes in the two months following the company quietly bringing into the fray a former Walt Disney Co. executive to oversee the family's District Detroit project as its senior vice president of operations and development.
Keith Bradford had been vice president of the rebranded and expanded Downtown Disney, where his LinkedIn profile says he added more than a dozen restaurants and 70 retail locations as the entertainment and theme park juggernaut broadened the area to allow not only Disney-related but also third-party retail and restaurants.
He comes to Detroit, 1,200 miles to the north, following what a source said was the departure of Baltimore-based Cordish Cos., the national developer and arena district specialist, from its work on The District Detroit earlier this year. Cordish had been working with Olympia since at least 2016 on the effort, although there had been tension between the two companies in recent months, another source said."

"The half-dozen multifamily projects totaling nearly 700 units announced a year ago are in a state of flux as a developer struggles to secure financing to redevelop the United Artists Building at 150 Bagley St., and American Community Developers is no longer working on three redevelopments and two new construction projects that were to comprise approximately 80 percent of the total unit count.
One of those three redevelopments, the Hotel Eddystone at 100 Sproat St., faces a looming Sept. 12 deadline that will be missed to redevelop the windowless tower. Olympia says it plans to install windows next month. The fate of the other two — the Hotel Fort Wayne at 408 Temple St. and the Alhambra Apartments at 100 Temple St. — is not known now that ACD is no longer involved. Late last week, boards were placed over window openings at the Hotel Fort Wayne."

[Atticus]

This may help to explain a little bit of why there has been so little happening with so many projects lately...

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...strategy-shift
"The Ilitch family's Olympia Development of Michigan is hiring, attempting to poach talent from other real estate companies in the region.
This comes in the two months following the company quietly bringing into the fray a former Walt Disney Co. executive to oversee the family's District Detroit project as its senior vice president of operations and development.
Keith Bradford had been vice president of the rebranded and expanded Downtown Disney, where his LinkedIn profile says he added more than a dozen restaurants and 70 retail locations as the entertainment and theme park juggernaut broadened the area to allow not only Disney-related but also third-party retail and restaurants.
He comes to Detroit, 1,200 miles to the north, following what a source said was the departure of Baltimore-based Cordish Cos., the national developer and arena district specialist, from its work on The District Detroit earlier this year. Cordish had been working with Olympia since at least 2016 on the effort, although there had been tension between the two companies in recent months, another source said."

"The half-dozen multifamily projects totaling nearly 700 units announced a year ago are in a state of flux as a developer struggles to secure financing to redevelop the United Artists Building at 150 Bagley St., and American Community Developers is no longer working on three redevelopments and two new construction projects that were to comprise approximately 80 percent of the total unit count.
One of those three redevelopments, the Hotel Eddystone at 100 Sproat St., faces a looming Sept. 12 deadline that will be missed to redevelop the windowless tower. Olympia says it plans to install windows next month. The fate of the other two — the Hotel Fort Wayne at 408 Temple St. and the Alhambra Apartments at 100 Temple St. — is not known now that ACD is no longer involved. Late last week, boards were placed over window openings at the Hotel Fort Wayne."

Here is the problem with that logic: none of the old buildings have started renovation.

It doesn’t matter what function [[residential, office, hotel, restaurant, etc.) Olympia ultimately decides to put into the Eddystone/Hotel Ft Wayne/United Artists or whatever other historic building they previously announced. The first 80% of the renovation for any of those buildings is exactly the same, regardless what the eventual use is.

The renovation will still need to do cleanup, window replacement, masonry restoration, roof replacement, and a ton of other work to make those buildings habitable. And again, this first 80% of that work is the same regardless of what use will ultimately be there. So if you have to do it regardless, why isn’t it being done now?

Obviously they haven’t started. This isn’t the case where a building is/has been renovated, and is sitting vacant while looking for a tenet. This is not doing anything. Besides, a historical structure that is already 80% renovated is much easier to market than an old building to a client that has to wait two years [[maybe longer if issues come up in the renovation).

Look at Gilbert. Start renovation first, and find tenets as the renovation nears completion. But again,we don’t see Olympia even making this good business decision on old properties they own.

[gumby]

Olympia says it plans to install windows next month.

I hear there will be some cheap replacement windows available soon. Lol.

[SammyS]

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/sports/...ed-arenas-year

LCA could potentially be the most attended arena IN THE WORLD in 2018

[EGrant]

Seems like there is an event almost every single night there.

[401don]

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/sports/...ed-arenas-year

LCA could potentially be the most attended arena IN THE WORLD in 2018

I can't read the article but it may be in the top 5 or 6 but no way it's more than Staples Center, Madison Square Gdn. or Toronto's Scotiabank Centre. There's also a difference between number of events and attendance since Wings games have lots of empty seats and Pistons games are less than half full.

[SammyS]

I can't read the article but it may be in the top 5 or 6 but no way it's more than Staples Center, Madison Square Gdn. or Toronto's Scotiabank Centre. There's also a difference between number of events and attendance since Wings games have lots of empty seats and Pistons games are less than half full.

games are not counted. Screen shots from the article

[Gistok]

This bears repeating....

Any Crain's online article can be viewed [[if you do not have a subscription) by....

1) following the link and for that split second before it gives you that full page pop-up asking you to subscribe to continue... read a couple of the title words.

2) Google 'Crains Detroit' + [[those title words)... in this instance... "little caesar may top the world"...

It will give you the top dozen results... and usually the first result is the Crain's article... click on that and you will be able to view the whole article without getting the membership pop-up.

This will work for ANY Crain's Detroit article, so anyone can view them all with this little trick....

[dtowncitylover]

What's the "development" between the arena and the business school? Those gates and banners are getting old considering construction is done for those big projects.

[DetroitSoldier]

What's the "development" between the arena and the business school? Those gates and banners are getting old considering construction is done for those big projects.

That is a DMC/Red Wings/Tigers/Community sports medicine clinic. Site prep and utility work is being done right now, with construction to follow shortly after.

[ASilvaman]

This bears repeating....

Any Crain's online article can be viewed [[if you do not have a subscription) by....

1) following the link and for that split second before it gives you that full page pop-up asking you to subscribe to continue... read a couple of the title words.

2) Google 'Crains Detroit' + [[those title words)... in this instance... "little caesar may top the world"...

It will give you the top dozen results... and usually the first result is the Crain's article... click on that and you will be able to view the whole article without getting the membership pop-up.

This will work for ANY Crain's Detroit article, so anyone can view them all with this little trick....

Or you can follow the link to the article and hit Reader Mode icon in your browser, that simple.

[Gistok]

Or you can follow the link to the article and hit Reader Mode icon in your browser, that simple.

You are under the mistaken assumption that everyone has READER MODE enabled on their computer.... not so. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, et al don't want to people to easily have advertising [[their bread-and-butter) turned off on their computer... so they NEVER have READER MODE working at install time. It requires special instructions for enabling it.... special instructions that a lot of people don't understand or don't follow.

[restoretheroar]

Thought this was funny. Can you imagine anyone other than the ilitch family advertising their parking lots so proudly?

[401don]

Thought this was funny. Can you imagine anyone other than the ilitch family advertising their parking lots so proudly?

Thought it was mildly clever until I read your post and realized it's a real ad. Avoid the dangers of panhandlers and exercise!

[DetroitSoldier]

Their two biggest money makers are pizza and parking. I'm not sure why an advertisement would surprise anyone.