Ambitious plans unveiled by the Ilitch family to create a new $650-million sports and entertainment district where the Detroit Red Wings would play and residents could live, shop and eat provoked a range of reactions today, from unabashedly upbeat to decidedly negative.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said his administration would work closely with the Ilitch family to make sure the sprawling new district on the northern edge of downtown would be developed in a way to benefit the city and its residents, including holding the Ilitches to pledges of buying Michigan-made materials and hiring Detroit residents for the project.
“It’s very positive, and I think it’s very thoughtful,” Duggan said today. “My biggest issue is going to be to make sure Detroiters participate in this process both in terms of jobs and in terms of opportunities for restaurants and businesses. If this is done in a way that includes Detroiters, I think it’ll be very successful.”
Many of the reactions centered on the large tax subsidies and incentives provided by various levels of government for the project. Others said they were worried about traffic spilling over into their neighborhoods, and still others said the money spent on an arena should be spent to fix schools, roads and other public needs.
Gov. Rick Snyder defended the substantial investment of public dollars, which includes state-backed bonds and some local property tax revenue to pay them off. The extra property tax revenue collected because of the value added by the development would be used, as well as some money the Ilitches make from the operations.
“It’s based on each individual case,” Snyder said today of his support for publicly financed arena projects. “I can tell you, in some ways I’m not a big supporter unless they have a strategic purpose. This one in particular has a huge strategic purpose, and that’s why I think it is so exciting, because it’s going to connect downtown and Midtown. If you really look at it, it’s the glue between the two. … And then you add M-1 (Rail) on top of it and everything else, and it is very exciting.”
The public incentives and subsidies going into the project provoked a predictable backlash among some people.
A Free Press reader identified as Frank Carpenter posted his skeptical comment on freep.com: “Once again it’s the taxpayer subsidizing a billionaires dream to get even richer.”
Jerry Belanger, owner of the Park Bar located within the new district, echoed that.
Long a critic of the Ilitches’ acquisition of property in the area and of the tax subsidies approved by the city, Belanger said today: “The revenue shortfall is going to be made up on the backs of the poorest people in this town. Next year the schools will look the same, the roads will look the same, the city will be doing the same way, Mike Ilitch will be building a stadium with the state’s money.”
In addition to a more-than-20,000-seat arena, plans call for new residential buildings and dozens of restaurants and retail, as well as a hotel, new parks and streetlights and other remade infrastructure.
Christopher Ilitch, president and CEO of Ilitch Holdings, said the area will offer an intimate, festive air that he compared to European cities known for their street life.
New retail connected to the arena structure will be open even when the arena is not in use, featuring an innovative design for a glass-covered streetscape inside the complex with trees and other urban amenities.
The below-ground-level playing surface and sleek building design are meant to give the arena a human scale unlike more imposing and monolithic arenas in many cities.
The large-scale development, overseen by the Ilitches’ Olympia Development, will be integrated with the planned M-1 Rail line, Comerica Park, Ford Field, the Fox Theatre, MotorCity Casino Hotel, the Detroit Opera House and other attractions.
The arena and various buildings and residential projects will be built on what are now mostly vacant lots encompassing dozens of blocks along and near Woodward Avenue.
Reaction among the corporate community ran decidedly upbeat.
Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of Quicken Loans, said in a statement: “We are thrilled about the more than exciting arena district plans revealed by the Ilitch family yesterday. The thoughtful and impressive design will be transformative for downtown. … You can’t help but believe this is the single most exciting and optimistic time for the Woodward corridor and all of downtown Detroit.”
Daniel Loepp, president and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, agreed.
“When people in the future tell the story of Detroit’s comeback, they will begin with a pioneer and visionary named Mike Ilitch. This is yet another game-changing investment in Detroit made by the Ilitch family,” Loepp said.
Still, some residents and workers in the Cass Corridor area where much of the district would rise said they had questions and concerns about the Ilitch plans.
Francis Grunow, a member of the recently elected neighborhood advisory council in the Cass Corridor area, said the plans are impressive but the council still has concerns about traffic, historic preservation, environmental sustainability and employment opportunities for Detroit residents in the new district.
“It’s hopeful, but there’s a long way to go before that becomes reality, and there’s a lot of concerns along the way,” he said.
