City Council calls out Illitch

**hybridy** · February-25-19, 07:47 PM

Eddystone was to be opened 1 year after LCA was up and running among other commitments that have lapsed. Does the city have any recourse?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Detroit/com...WJ&sh=b16fb0c4

**Gistok** · February-25-19, 08:30 PM

Paging Emu_Steve for comment...

In the words of the music group "Talking Heads".... 'Same as it ever was'....

**NSortzi** · February-25-19, 09:07 PM

About time.

**shawring** · February-25-19, 09:41 PM

No justice no pizza

**dtowncitylover** · February-26-19, 09:32 AM

Good on her.

Let's see what they have to say for themselves.

**swingline** · February-26-19, 10:36 AM

This issue could turn into the first significant political battle between City Council and the Duggan administration. Yes, there is very little chance that Mr. Duggan or the DEGC/DDA would engage in any kind of legal recourse to force Olympia to honor any "commitment" regarding the Eddystone. Olympia still has enough influence with the administration to prevent that. And it wouldn't be surprising if the actual development agreement does not include any kind of binding obligation regarding the Eddystone, or that loopholes were included to allow indefinite delay. That's how Olympia rolls and it no doubt negotiated a document that is mostly favorable to the developer.

But City Council may not be so beholden and a majority may be willing to take on Olympia and the Duggan Administration and press for a remedy. There is certainly majority citizen support for holding Olympia to its promises. The problem is that the promises may not be legally binding. Olympia has built a Parking District Detroit instead of a District Detroit. Will there be any consequences for the broken promises?

One other point. The decline of local media's investigative and watchdog capacity is clearly felt around this issue. 10-15 years ago, a loud media drumbeat over an issue like this would have likely developed. We've got mostly crickets in 2019.

**Zads07** · February-26-19, 10:52 AM

This is absolutely fantastic. It's time the Ilitch family pay up and own up to their promises or be handed the consequences.

**Luke09** · February-26-19, 02:05 PM

Their development track record is horrendous, the pizza is sub par at best, their sports franchises are currently bottom feeders and their parking lots are an eyesore and really break up the city.

**Smirnoff** · February-27-19, 08:10 AM

Just like keeping "Tiger Stadium" alive after Comerica Park was built.....

**swingline** · February-27-19, 02:46 PM

Deadline Detroit is trying to push this issue with an article. http://www.deadlinedetroit.com/artic...z_i_GgdyZdJpRE It's a good article although the last paragraph seems to confuse things by stating that the Ilitch Organization has already satisfied its $200 million ancillary investment threshold that will qualify it for an additional $74 million in subsidies. Not sure that is true.

**Wesley Mouch** · February-27-19, 03:05 PM

Wow. A rare moment of city council doing what city council should do. Carry on and hold them to the commitments.

**gnome** · February-27-19, 03:21 PM

Originally Posted by swingline

Deadline Detroit is trying to push this issue with an article. http://www.deadlinedetroit.com/artic...z_i_GgdyZdJpRE It's a good article although the last paragraph seems to confuse things by stating that the Ilitch Organization has already satisfied its $200 million ancillary investment threshold that will qualify it for an additional $74 million in subsidies. Not sure that is true.

I couldn’t get the article to load, but if memory serves, the $200 million was partially satisfied by announcing the Mike Ilitch School of Business.

So, kind of paying themselves to get the extra cash. Sort of like wrecking your mom’s kitchen then claiming you deserve extra allowance for cleaning it up.

**Danny** · February-27-19, 03:37 PM

The big problem for Illitch is he is NOT a venture capitalist. Just an businessman who makes Hot and Ready Pizza Pizzas, and overseeing the Red Wings and Tiger;s games. Having to take charge of developing the South end of Cass Corridor and the rest of Gilberttown Detroit will be left to other future projects. So for Illitch just invest up to millions of dollars just to keep LCA a float.

**Scottathew** · February-28-19, 08:26 AM

One of the big issues isn't so much that the Ilitch family isn't doing what they promised, but that they are standing in the way of what they promised. None of the development in this area will happen because the Ilitch family owns the land and are unwilling to sell it to someone who would use it. They want those parking lots to support their proven ways to make money.

The difference between the Ilitch family and Gilbert couldn't be more pronounced. Gilbert's goal is to make money while revitalizing Detroit. The Ilitch goal it to make money.

The Ilitch family makes money by selling pizzas and having ample parking for its large venues.

Gilbert makes money by selling mortgages while creating a real estate empire that feeds off of its own activity.

Gilbert makes money from more downtown density. The Ilitch family needs to destroy density for their model to work.

**swingline** · February-28-19, 08:39 AM

Originally Posted by 48307

One of the big issues isn't so much that the Ilitch family isn't doing what they promised, but that they are standing in the way of what they promised. None of the development in this area will happen because the Ilitch family owns the land and are unwilling to sell it to someone who would use it. They want those parking lots to support their proven ways to make money.

The difference between the Ilitch family and Gilbert couldn't be more pronounced. Gilbert's goal is to make money while revitalizing Detroit. The Ilitch goal it to make money.

The Ilitch family makes money by selling pizzas and having ample parking for its large venues.

Gilbert makes money by selling mortgages while creating a real estate empire that feeds off of its own activity.

Gilbert makes money from more downtown density. The Ilitch family needs to destroy density for their model to work.

Agree with all of this.

**SammyS** · February-28-19, 09:04 AM

Originally Posted by 48307

One of the big issues isn't so much that the Ilitch family isn't doing what they promised, but that they are standing in the way of what they promised. None of the development in this area will happen because the Ilitch family owns the land and are unwilling to sell it to someone who would use it. They want those parking lots to support their proven ways to make money.

The difference between the Ilitch family and Gilbert couldn't be more pronounced. Gilbert's goal is to make money while revitalizing Detroit. The Ilitch goal it to make money.

The Ilitch family makes money by selling pizzas and having ample parking for its large venues.

Gilbert makes money by selling mortgages while creating a real estate empire that feeds off of its own activity.

Gilbert makes money from more downtown density. The Ilitch family needs to destroy density for their model to work.

I will also add that parking lots serve the purpose of hoarding land for speculation while generating income with little overhead

**DetroitSoldier** · February-28-19, 09:40 AM

For all the discussion about this family and their companies, you would think we would be able to spell their name correctly by now, especially in the thread title.

**hybridy** · February-28-19, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by DetroitSoldier

For all the discussion about this family and their companies, you would think we would be able to spell their name correctly by now, especially in the thread title.

my bad. guess you never notice the prolific misspelling on this forum. have you read the freep/detnews recently?

**Wesley Mouch** · February-28-19, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by 48307

...The difference between the Ilitch family and Gilbert couldn't be more pronounced. Gilbert's goal is to make money while revitalizing Detroit. The Ilitch goal it to make money.
...
Gilbert makes money from more downtown density. The Ilitch family needs to destroy density for their model to work.

Seems possible to me to make money on pizza and sports in dense places [[Pizza = NYC, MSG = success). And Gilbert could probably make just as much money with a telemarketing and finance farm on, well, a farm in Topeka.

Ilitch's model would work without destroying density. But they don't seem to have read Jane Jacobs. Or maybe they read the Cliff's notes. They talk about building vibrant, diverse business districts -- but in practice seem to be prefer monolithic uses of real estate.

Gilberts really seems to not only have read, but buys into Jane Jacobs and what makes cities tick.

Neither is wrong. But only Gilbert seems to have a proven track record in urban development from the ground up. Where the Ilitch group seems to prefer top-down. It may be that both are necessary for urban vibrancy.

**stasu1213** · March-02-19, 08:07 PM

Councilwoman Lopez and Brenda Jones were the only two who didnt give in to the Illitches given breaks to build this arena. Gilbert, love him or hate him, had done more things in the past 10 years with the building that he had purchased than the Illitches had done in the past 30 plus years.The Illitches and others had brought properties and just sat on them over the years while building stadiums. Gilbert would had completed the UA building within a few years. The Illitches had started work on that building not many years after 911 but 15 years or so later the building is still not complete. I had listen to Horace Sheffield this morning on the radio as I was flicking through the channels and he had said that he owned properties in the city. I wonder if he and others are just sitting on these properties which are in key areas of the city and could had been developed years ago. The Illitches are terrible when it come to developments and should just do as Ford is doing; stick to building arenas and renovate buildings for next headquarters. But as long as they have friends in city government, the slow developements will continue

**bust** · March-03-19, 06:17 PM

The bigger scandal is not how the amoral Ilitches have for decades been parasitically vampirizing Detroit, but how Detroit administration, the city council, the state and county government, and the local mainstream media have utterly failed in their mission to serve as crucial checks against such abuse. How the DEGC and MEDC have bountifully subsidized it with taxpayer funds.

**DetroitSoldier** · March-03-19, 06:28 PM

I am shocked that Crains wrote something negative against the Ilitches. They have been in the pocket of Crains for quite a while. This is really news inside the news.

**bust** · March-03-19, 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitSoldier

I am shocked that Crains wrote something negative against the Ilitches. They have been in the pocket of Crains for quite a while. This is really news inside the news.

Shocked and encouraged. Speaking of courage, how about some more?

**ABetterDetroit** · March-03-19, 06:51 PM

And yet they are still acquiring more property to create more... blight and emptiness.

**bust** · March-03-19, 06:56 PM

ABetterDetroit you have in the past shared how this can be discouraged through tax reform. Those were great ideas. Please remind us again, and again, and again.