DETROIT | Little Caesars Arena & The District Detroit

[Detroit1995]

Any updates? Seems like there's been no activity with this project, aside from building another parking garage...of course.

[LMich]

Plenty still going on. The Wayne State University Ilitch School of Business is moving along:


The District Detroit

The Detroit Life Building is getting a facade restoration:


The District Detroit

And work starts this year on Columbia Street:


The District Detroit

This is not to mention that the Little Caesars Headquarters is still under construction. It's not as if the building trades in Metro Detroit doesn't have any work to do; they are pretty busy right now, don't you think?

[Detroit1995]

Ah my mistake, I keep forgetting that the School of Business is included here. I've kept up on that and the LCHQ via the webcam. But outside of those two, there seems to be little to no work on much of the Cass Corridor part of the project - such as the Hotel Fort Wayne, Hotel Park Avenue, and the surrounding structures of LCA.

[LMich]

Olympia announced revised plans of this phase of Detroit Detroit, yesterday.

Olympia Development proposes nearly $200 million in new office, retail developments in District Detroit

2715 Woodward: medical/commercial offices



120 Henry: offices



2110 Park: (renovation)



1922 Cass: (renovation)



2210 Park: office (renovation)



111 Henry: office



http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article..._medium=social

Looks like the two Henry Street properties have been changed to office (and ground floor retail) usage leaving all residential development for renovation historic buildings.

[Detroit1995]

A little surprised that the District Detroit's website hasn't added any additional construction cameras on these projects.

[Docta_Love]

Same here.

Wayne State to move staff into new Mike Ilitch School of Business next week

By ANNALISE FRANK
Crain's Detroit Business
June 07, 2018

-200 staff and faculty members to move in to new offices
-University working out parking details with Olympia Development
-Classes to start at new building in the fall


Construction of the new Wayne State University Mike Ilitch School of Business on Woodward Avenue in Detroit is nearly complete. Staff and faculty expect to move in by June 15.

Wayne State University is preparing to move staff and faculty into its new Mike Ilitch School of Business starting next week and finalizing parking plans with Olympia Development of Michigan.

The $59 million construction project to create a new home for the business school at Woodward Avenue and Temple Street near Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit is nearly complete and classes are expected to start there in the fall, spokesman Steve Townsend said.

Final touches such as landscaping, furniture and audio/visual equipment will be installed over the summer. Around 200 staff and faculty will be moving offices by June 15 to the new 120,000-square-foot building. It will likely serve about 2,500-3,000 of the business school's expected 4,000 students for fall enrollment, Townsend said. Some classes will remain at Wayne State's main campus about 1.5 miles to the north.

The business school sits just north of Little Caesars Arena and the recently announced DMC Sports Medicine Institute. It's within the Ilitch family's 50 block District Detroit development area north of the downtown Detroit core.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...-business-next

[Detroit1995]

It's been well over a year since any activity was seen on the two developments that border the Chevrolet Plaza. None of the restorations have started either. But of course, a parking structure behind the new School of Business went up ASAP.

Typical Olympia, promise the world, get the main project finished (LCA), and never deliver on the rest.

[seabee1526]

The area is now classified as an Historic District. Were they waiting to see what the decision would be before they moved forward. Now that they can't demolish what are the options...move forward...let the area sit as is...sell?

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by seabee1526

The area is now classified as an Historic District. Were they waiting to see what the decision would be before they moved forward. Now that they can't demolish what are the options...move forward...let the area sit as is...sell?

Local historic designation doesn't necessarily prevent demolition, but there's a few more hoops to jump through to get it done. They're definitely not going to sell as they still have a grand vision for this area, this land the buildings are on included. If it's become too much of a hassle to get demolition done, they may concede to integrate the historic buildings into their grand plan.

The issue is often taxes and financing. Many financial and tax incentives currently available favor new construction over rehabilitation. Rehabilitation isn't impossible, but often the less significant a building, the harder it is to get money and the more strict criteria that need to be met to qualify such financing of tax credit.

The unfortunate reality is simply that parking lots and parking garages generate easy revenue and require low maintenance versus adhering to a multitude of various regulations to qualify for rehabilitation funding/tax credits. So for the time being these buildings will likely sit for a while even if there's new (non-parking) construction in nearby lots.

[animatedmartian]

Today will be an update on the district as a whole. Notably what has and hasn't been built so far. Photos were taken by Michelle and Chris Gerard and were posted via Curbed Detroit.

Woodward Square:

Mike Illitch School of Business for the most part is complete. At this point, faculty and staff are getting settled into the building.




For the next 3 projects, the developer (American Community Developers) originally announced to develop these is no longer involved with any District Projects. Instead they seem to be focused on developing residential in nearby Brush Park.

No new developers have been announced for Olympia's projects although they have indicated that the new construction will be office space. For now, these are in limbo.







Behind Eddystone, a parking garage was built. Next door to that is a 100 year old apartment building that Olympia intends to demolish. Olympia has stated they are awaiting approval but it was already announced demolition would start sometime this week. Either way, it will be another blip on the list of buildings Olympia has demolished for the sake of profitability.




Columbia Street:

For the most part, the LCHQ has progressed along towards completion but it seems a little behind schedule. Last year it was reported that the office building would be complete by about this time but it seems like there's still a bit of work to go.




http://www.districtdetroit.com/live-web-cam/


Columbia Square:

Still a big collection of parking lots. But they're at least paved with some trees planted around them.




Cass Park:

As mentioned before, the developer for these residential projects backed out which leaves these projects in limbo for the time being.





Cass Park itself doesn't seem like it's been getting too much attention. Maybe a bit cleaner than usual but pretty far from an attractive place to be.


https://detroit.curbed.com/2018/8/14...s-hockey-arena

[animatedmartian]

One thing I want to point out is the contrast in developmental style between Olympia (Mike Illitch's company) and Bedrock (Dan Gilbert's company).

Gilbert has sought out historical buildings, renovated them, and filled them with workers and residents. However this often came with financial incentives and and tax breaks. Illitch has sought out historical buildings and demolished them, but using private monies. In fact, outside of the Little Ceasers Arena, most of Illitch's projects don't use incentives or tax breaks.

Gilbert has stated that he takes a loss on his projects in the first few years but is optimistic that he will get his returns. Olympia on the other hands opts for the easy revenue generator that is parking at the loss of historic (or at least very old) architecture. In the long-term they may start to actually build some worthwhile projects though that's being optimistic.

I think in the end, both billionaire giants want the same thing, but the methods they're using to achieve that are opposite one another and shows in their projects. To me, they're two sides of the same coin.

I can't say whether this is good or bad for Detroit either way, but I honestly feel more like Detroit is still limited by other factors that disincentives developers from developing what people actually want. I believe a lack of transit is a big reason why parking is so lucrative but also why it's hard to justify expensive new construction and large scale renovations. Detroit is making progress for sure, but there's still a lot more than could be done and I believe transit is at the foundation of that.

Anyway, my feelings here were kinda sparked by people (justifiably) criticizing Olympia for its demolitions and parking lot mania, but I see it as a symptom of Detroit's (still present) inefficiencies and not necessarily just the greed of a single company.

[The North One]

The Ilitches have access to all the same incentives and the incentives they got for LCA was given on the agreement that they would also develop the surrounding area. Smaller developers have restored buildings of similar sizes that were significantly decayed and most of the historical properties the Ilitchs got were already occupied or were in decent shape. I don't see how Gilbert and the Ilitches are the same coin other than that they both want to make profits, I don't have a problem with the state investing with Gilbert to brink back massive historical buildings since they're beneficial to the state in the long run, the Ilitch parking lot desert not so much.

The Ilitches are greedy, lazy slum lords, there is no excuse for their abhorrent behavior.

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by The North One

The Ilitches have access to all the same incentives and the incentives they got for LCA was given on the agreement that they would also develop the surrounding area. Smaller developers have restored buildings of similar sizes that were significantly decayed and most of the historical properties the Ilitchs got were already occupied or were in decent shape. I don't see how Gilbert and the Ilitches are the same coin other than that they both want to make profits, I don't have a problem with the state investing with Gilbert to brink back massive historical buildings since they're beneficial to the state in the long run, the Ilitch parking lot desert not so much.

The Ilitches are greedy, lazy slum lords, there is no excuse for their abhorrent behavior.

I'm just saying, there's nothing that disincentivises making a profit from parking lots versus trying to make the numbers work with any project when it requires government assistance to make a profit.

[The North One]

That's why the city needs a land value tax or a parking lot tax.

[animatedmartian]

That seems like a slippery slope to slowing down development altogether. At that point, comes down to whether people have an alternative to car travel or risk losing projects to the suburbs where parking is forever free. I still believe heavy mass transit is the most logical route to go.

Anyway, the city says that the Alden Apartments are not in immediate need of demolition. Olympia will still have to get through the usual bureaucratic channels to get it torn down. So far the city's only defense is to add as much red tape as possible.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...den-apartments

[LMich]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

So far the city's only defense is to add as much red tape as possible.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...den-apartments

Bell said Olympia has not yet submitted a demolition application to the city.

"If the owner chooses to move forward with that application, it will be subject to Historic District Commission approval, as the building does not require an emergency demolition and it is located within the boundaries of the Cass Park Historic District."

That's not nothing; you originally made this sound as if it was imminent. This will add months to the process. The city is making them really want this, and good on the city. This is the point and power of a historic district, thank god.

[animatedmartian]

In my defense, it was the news article that said Olympia was geared up to demo this tomorrow because they claimed it was such a danger to the public.

[animatedmartian]

Google signage now up. Little bit of a mess, isn't it?


https://www.reddit.com/r/Detroit/com...ef_source=link

[Detroit1995]

I walked all around the area a few days after the Curbed piece was published. With the exception of the School of Business, and (another) new parking garage about 100 yards behind it, nothing has changed.

By now, the one level of structural steel located to the left of the Chevrolet Plaza has become an eyesore. It's sat untouched since April 2017 at the latest, open to the elements. They can throw up as many "District Detroit" branded fences as they want, but Olympia is not fooling anyone.

The massive, unfinished projects (and the lack of maintenance on them) really sucks the life out of LCA on non-event days. That's unfortunate because there plazas surrounding the arena are really well done.

Finally, the District Detroit's webcam for LCA has not been active since August 15. Any guesses as to why that is?

[animatedmartian]

August 15 coincides with the date when Google finally moved in or at least got their logo up on the building. Not sure if that has anything to do with it, but the other 2 cameras have still been going.