Detroit center of innovation to he built in the district Detroit

**Detroit** · December-13-21, 09:03 AM

Ilitchnewshub.com

Nice to see this still happening and even better in the District Detroit to help fill it in.

Very exciting news

**401don** · December-13-21, 09:24 AM

Could just have easily gone at fail jail site. Sounds like Gilbert and Ross had a falling out over something. Ilitch will get the land valued sky high and take the tax break since he's realizing the developers weren't running to the District Detroit area like he had hoped.

**kuuma** · December-13-21, 09:25 AM

Well that answers our postulating about Cass Park vs. west downtown!

We'll probably get more renders after the event today, but based on this first image it looks like the residential building will go up on the next block east [[2130 Cass lot), which makes sense in the Illitches part to extend the developed strip of Columbia Street further.

I do wonder whether/how they will tie in Stephen Ross' recently-acquired land at 3rd/Charlotte - that's a bit of a walk to be campus housing. Maybe that's unrelated, with a residential tower adjacent to the DCI. Still... very big for downtown.

**Danny** · December-13-21, 09:28 AM

It better work. The Illitch's are not venture capitalists like Gilbert. They can't even restore the United Artist Building.

**Gistok** · December-13-21, 09:41 AM

Looks like they will share the same large block as the Royal Order of the Moose, the two story lodge building, at the NE corner of W. Elizabeth and Cass Ave. At least I hope they will share it?

**JonWylie** · December-13-21, 09:52 AM

https://www.freep.com/story/money/bu...on/6492617001/

**mikeg19** · December-13-21, 09:57 AM

A million bucks says the housing component gets scrapped.....

Jokes aside, great to see parking lots filled in with buildings, especially in that part of downtown, but why in the hell is groundbreaking in 2023? If they are copy/paste on the design [[which it looks like), the funding is ready to go, and the site is prepped & ready, what is going to take 1-1.5 years to get a shovel in the ground? The painstakingly slow pace of these projects is frustrating.

**ShadowSoarer** · December-13-21, 10:01 AM

Was hoping that they would break ground next year instead of 2023. Don't want to have to wait another 2 years to have them change their mind again.

Anyways this is great news filling in one of the largest surface parking lot there. Was kind of expecting it to be closer to the Fox Theater closer to M Den, but still this great for Downtown.

This is a win-win for the Illitch which they can now claim that they have kept their promise for the District Detroit.

**401don** · December-13-21, 10:13 AM

Originally Posted by mikeg19

A million bucks says the housing component gets scrapped.....

Jokes aside, great to see parking lots filled in with buildings, especially in that part of downtown, but why in the hell is groundbreaking in 2023? If they are copy/paste on the design [[which it looks like), the funding is ready to go, and the site is prepped & ready, what is going to take 1-1.5 years to get a shovel in the ground? The painstakingly slow pace of these projects is frustrating.

It's difficult to know if the construction labor shortage really does impact the timeline but you would think site prep work/digging the foundation could start sooner.

**DeLemur** · December-13-21, 10:26 AM

Illitch can't claim anything until its built. Words and promises from them have not amounted to much in the past. That's why the 'District Detroit' was revitalized into a bunch of parking lots.

Ross, on the other hand, I believe in.

Originally Posted by ShadowSoarer

Was hoping that they would break ground next year instead of 2023. Don't want to have to wait another 2 years to have them change their mind again.

Anyways this is great news filling in one of the largest surface parking lot there. Was kind of expecting it to be closer to the Fox Theater closer to M Den, but still this great for Downtown.

This is a win-win for the Illitch which they can now claim that they have kept their promise for the District Detroit.

**stinkytofu** · December-13-21, 11:26 AM

Crossing fingers this gets built, but we'll see. Don't like that timeline.

Really happy to see that part of downtown activated. A little surprised UM was good to go with that location [[it's not exactly highly visible), but I'll take it.

**Satiricalivory** · December-13-21, 11:45 AM

So it's going to be exactly where I thought it would be on Grand River.

They're really keeping the same design though? Was hoping for something different.

**Satiricalivory** · December-13-21, 11:49 AM

Originally Posted by 401don

Could just have easily gone at fail jail site. Sounds like Gilbert and Ross had a falling out over something.

Yeah something definitely happened between them. Oh well I guess, it worked out lol.

**313WX** · December-13-21, 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by 401don

Could just have easily gone at fail jail site. Sounds like Gilbert and Ross had a falling out over something. Ilitch will get the land valued sky high and take the tax break since he's realizing the developers weren't running to the District Detroit area like he had hoped.

Gilbert may be playing a critical role in reviving downtown/midtown, but I've suspected for a long time that he's a very difficult person to work with.

**Willwll313wll** · December-13-21, 12:05 PM

Originally Posted by Satiricalivory

Yeah something definitely happened between them. Oh well I guess, it worked out lol.

It's funny to think something happen, BUT Mayor Duggan was asked about this and he thanked Bedrock and Gilbert. He then said Bedrock was doing them a favor by offering them the land for as long as they did but Bedrock wanted a more concrete timeline on the development, seeing as though the land would basically be on hold until then but Ross could not give that timeline at the time so they looked at other locations. That's it.

**kuuma** · December-13-21, 12:18 PM

The timeline is definitely a red flag. What else needs to happen before they bust out the shovels? Land is secured, design is complete, god knows there's plenty of space over there to set up construction equipment bases. Do they need any further city approvals and impact studies?

edit: here's another angle from @Michigan684 on SkyscraperCity, revealing another building on the big block and a quad on the 2055 Cass lot location.
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Name: Screen Shot 2021-12-13 at 12.31.00 PM.jpg
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**THE FURY 617** · December-13-21, 12:54 PM

Originally Posted by kuuma

The timeline is definitely a red flag. What else needs to happen before they bust out the shovels? Land is secured, design is complete, god knows there's plenty of space over there to set up construction equipment bases. Do they need any further city approvals and impact studies?

edit: here's another angle from @Michigan684 on SkyscraperCity, revealing another building on the big block and a quad on the 2055 Cass lot location.
Name: Screen Shot 2021-12-13 at 12.31.00 PM.jpg
Views: 4384
Size: 137.1 KB

I also agree about the timeline. 2023 is way too long. It will be great if they broke ground early in the spring of next year, but other than that, I love the new location.

**Satiricalivory** · December-13-21, 01:19 PM

You guys realize it's December 2021 right? A bit over a year from now groundbreaking from announcement seems pretty standard. How is this a "red flag"?

**canuck** · December-13-21, 01:23 PM

It will be a really cool building. A nice wink to the automotive designs of the past. I especially like the angular feel on one of the main radial arteries of the city.

**DetroiterOnTheWestCoast** · December-13-21, 01:24 PM

I too agree that the timeline is disappointing, but I do like the location. Grand River is too major of a thoroughfare to be underutilized. A significant new presence on it would be very good.

**mikeg19** · December-13-21, 02:30 PM

Originally Posted by Satiricalivory

You guys realize it's December 2021 right? A bit over a year from now groundbreaking from announcement seems pretty standard. How is this a "red flag"?

Considering the design work for the Innovation Center is a copy/paste from the prior Fail Jail site, most of the up front design work is done. They're also dealing with a plot of land that is basically shovel ready today. Just seems a little weird that were talking about, at the earliest, 1 year from now that shovels will hit the dirt. They have added the Moose Lodge & a residential concept to the plan, but I'd assume those 2 pieces are secondary to the Innovation Center. It just seems like Huntington and The Exchange got announced and them boom, elevator cores are 10 floors high in no time.

**JK313** · December-13-21, 02:43 PM

Both the exchange and Huntington projects also took at least a year from announcement to groundbreaking.

**313WX** · December-13-21, 02:45 PM

Originally Posted by JK313

Both the exchange and Huntington projects also took at least a year from announcement to groundbreaking.

The Huntington project at least had a good excuse. They were waiting for the merger to close.

**K-slice** · December-13-21, 02:58 PM

Why must we start a new thread every time there is some new update on these stories?

**southen** · December-13-21, 03:55 PM

I am hoping that the park south of the site is just a rendering placeholder and that they aren't planning on putting another park there. You have Beacon across the street and Grand Circus two blocks away. That area needs density and buildings. This is a good start but if this is all that ends up getting built it will be a couple of new buildings surrounded by a parking desert.