I know there is a lot here, but be patient, there are a lot of little things that strangely point toward the fact here. There has been a lot of speculation surrounding the Detroit Red Wings and their arena situation heading into the final year of their lease at Joe Louis Arena. Over the weekend, I took some time to do some research both downtown and on the web and all signs are pointing to the possibility of a new arena for the Red Wings in the not-too-distant future. The Ilitches have been cleaning up or renovating properties they purchased years ago with a new arena in mind in the area west of Foxtown and in proximity. For example, the Fine Arts building has been torn down, facade preserved, and is ready for a redevelopment that may occur should there end up being a new arena just west of there. Also, the 'mystery work' going on at the United Artists Theatre Building appears to be that of a clean up, so it is ready should someone want to renovate the building in the near future. Third, the Detroit Life Building, immediately west of the Fox Theatre, is under renovation for use by Ilitch Holdings for office space. All of this renovation, specifically the clean-up of the United Artists and the Fine Arts Building signal something may be coming. I find it hard to believe that the facade alone of the Fine Arts Building would be preserved unless there was likely to be some sort of development in the very near future. Now don't just go saying "it is about time that slumlord cleaned some of those places up" like many of you do in this forum, because the Ilitches are anything but slumlords compared to many others in the city, there just has never been the demand for them to develop much of what they own. But nonetheless, given the fact that the Red Wings elected not to renew their lease, and said that renovation of 'The Joe' is the responsibility of it's owner, the nearly bankrupt City of Detroit, the fact that they were going to look to a new lease for a much shorter term [[to provide time to build a new arena), the fact that they have approached Wayne County about financing for a new arena, according to a Robert Ficano quote in the Detroit News back in June, and the recent cleanup of a few Ilitch owned properties in the direct vicinity of the rumored location for a new arena west of Foxtown. Could all of this be a coincidence? Yes, however that does seem unlikely in this economy. It has also been rumored that they were waiting for the economy to improve a bit before they would pursue a new arena, giving them time to clean up these buildings. The biggest thing to me is with the economy so bad, why would they be cleaning up buildings like the Fine Arts and United Artists unless they had near term plans in mind?? I mean the facade of that building isn't going to last forever regardless of what is holding it up. So with all of these things strangely seeming to point toward a new arena in the next 5-8 years or so, what do you all think??