Little Caesars Arena to breathe life into dead zone of Detroit

John Gallagher/Detroit Free Press

The internal concourse will be one of the main attractions of the fresh Little Caesars Arena.

The internal concourse will be one of the main attractions of the fresh Little Caesars Arena. less

More than a fresh home for two professional sports teams, the Little Caesars Arena, set for a ribbon-cutting next week, is the centerpiece of a 50-block development dubbed District Detroit that is expected to breathe life into a part of Detroit that has long been considered a dead zone.

The district – slated to include entertainment and commercial developments, as well as at least six residential developments – aims to convert a part of Detroit that for years has been made up of vacant and dilapidated buildings, offices housing nonprofit service organizations, restaurants, bars and liquor stores.

«The stadium can be the nucleus for that area, and it`s the catalyst for that project to take form,» said Justin Robinson, vice president of business attraction at the Detroit Regional Chamber. «But, ultimately, it`s going to be the surrounding development that leaves the largest influence on the city and, frankly, on the state.»

The arena, which workers in hard hats and bright yellow vests are toiling to finish, will be home to the Crimson Wings and Pistons. It is set for a ribbon-cutting Tuesday, followed by public tours and, then, on Sept. 12, the very first of six Kid Rock concerts.

The district, inbetween downtown and Midtown, would fulfill a promise made by the Ilitch family to promote at least $200 million in private investment in the area in exchange for getting public dollars to help pay for the $863-million arena. The family possesses the Crimson Wings, the Detroit Tigers and Little Caesars Pizza.

“I think it’s good,” said Ray Hanna, manager of a convenience store close to the arena. The shop – which sells hot food, cold drinks, fresh fruit, lottery tickets and liquor – was bustling Wednesday morning with thirsty construction workers. “It brings fresh jobs, fresh development, fresh people.”

Work is under way in the district, headed by the Ilitch organization’s Olympia Development, tho’ it won’t be ended for several years.

Restaurants, offices and fresh surface lots and parking structures are expected to open soon. There also will be residential developments – a total of six hundred eighty six units – with work on some of them scheduled to embark this year.

Four of the residential buildings will make over historic buildings near the arena.

Of those, one hundred thirty nine apartments will be set aside as lower-rent units with income limitations. Rents could begin as low as $700 a month. The other residences would be leased at market rates, about $1,500 a month for a 750-square-foot apartment.

Other features and amenities also are planned, including a potential hotel.

«The momentum has been created,” said Eric Larson, the CEO of the nonprofit Downtown Detroit Partnership. “Yes, there are a number of projects that will take time, but all of that has the capability to be facilitated now that a big chunk has taken place.”

Moreover, the QLINE street car will be able to budge people along Woodward Avenue.

Eric Seals, Detroit Free Press

The QLINE goes north on Woodward passing by the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tuesday, April 11, 2017.

The QLINE goes north on Woodward passing by the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tuesday, April 11, 2017. less

The district also includes Wayne State University’s Mike Ilitch School of Business and a Little Caesars corporate headquarters building that is taking form at Woodward and Columbia Street, adjacent to the Ilitch-owned Fox Theatre.

The fresh headquarters – scheduled to open next year – will be near planned shops and cafés on Columbia Street.

A 30-year commitment

District Detroit would represent the culmination of the Ilitch family’s 30-year commitment to enlivening downtown, a commitment that earlier gave fresh life to the Fox Theatre and eyed the building of Comerica Park. It would extend the late Mike Ilitch’s flair for entertainment-themed development over a fatter swath of the city than ever before.

As opening day approaches, groups of workers are dashing about the gigantic fresh arena elaborate.

Roads are being repaved; buildings demolished.

Businesses, like Harry’s Detroit sports bar, are cleaning up, even adding fresh paint.

All the hustle and bustle makes it possible to see past the gravel parking lots packed with violated bottles of booze and the long-neglected buildings with boarded-up and blown-out windows and peeling paint to envision an area teeming with residents and commerce.

At the firehouse blocks away from the arena, firefighters debate the area’s future.

“I think it’s going to happen,” Chris Dezenski, 51, of Corunna said. “It is happening. You build it they will come.”

He’s the believer.

Terence MacRae, 40, of Milford countered that there’s no question that the area looks better than it did five years ago, but he’s not sold that a district packed with residents and businesses will be built – and will believe it when he sees it.

“I know people are going to come down for sports events,” he said. “But, as far as jobs and packing in the city? There’s still lots to do.”

He’s the skeptic.

Of the arena’s total cost, the public’s contribution is $324 million, including $35 million for upgrades to accommodate the Pistons. The Ilitch companies are paying $539 million.

Contractors building the arena said they had trouble finding enough Detroiters to work on the project. The contractors – who are required to employ a team made up of at least 51% of city residents – paid $Two.9 million to workforce training funds because they did not hire enough Detroit residents to work on the project.

Larson – who worked for Ilitch and then downtown developer Dan Gilbert before joining the partnership – described the district before the arena was built as “a missing tooth in the smile of Woodward.”

“There are very few projects,” he added, “that would have created the kind of infill and ultimate linkage inbetween two knots of positive activity – Midtown and downtown – and instantly pack the gap.»

Where is it headed?

Still, Robinson, who also has been an urban planner, said the arena alone isn’t enough to attract major businesses to the city.

But, he said, the entire district is part of a narrative that shows Detroit, indeed, is on the rise again.

«There`s an chance right now, where – it`s not just the Ilitches – there are a lot of developers attempting to capitalize on the request that exists for housing and retail and offices in Detroit,” he said. “The question is: How cautiously do they stir to pack in request? We`ve never been in this place in our latest history, so there`s no analytics, no data to say where this is headed.»

Romain Blanquart, Detroit Free Press

A billboard of the Detroit Pistons near the site of the future Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Nov. 22, 2016.

A billboard of the Detroit Pistons near the site of the future Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Nov. 22, 2016. less

Detroit Councilman Scott Benson said he is certain that the Ilitches will meet or exceed their development commitment and said he believes that it is a good come back on investment for taxpayers.

He compared the fresh arena to a shopping center anchor tenant.

“The ancillary development is going to be very, very significant,” Benson said. “That’s where your residents live. That’s where your shop owners are going to be investing in fresh businesses. That’s also where your tax revenue is going to come from.”

District Detroit, Benson said, will create a vibrant core in a part of the city where there hasn’t been much investment in decades.

“It makes a more livable city overall,” he said, adding that it helps pack in development gaps as other projects across the city take hold. “But, we still need to see that kind of investment coming back to our neighborhoods.”

Private investment is primarily building the district, but as much as $74 million in public dollars can come from the Detroit Downtown Development Authority to help the district grow.

That money – originally $62 million, but enlargened after the Pistons agreed to leave Auburn Hills and budge to Detroit – will come from tax receipts captured over thirty years in and around the fresh district. It is contingent on the minimum $200 million in private-sector investment from Olympia and its development playmates in the district.

David Sampson – the CEO of the Mariners Inn, a homeless shelter and drug treatment center for about one hundred fifty dudes at four hundred forty five Ledyard – said the organization is hopeful the district will create opportunities for the organization.

“We are as excited as everybody else around here,” he said. “We’ve been here for sixty two years. We’ve been a part of the community when it wasn’t so well-to-do. At one point, it was considered a bastion of ill-repute. We’ve weathered the storm.”

Sampson said the organization will benefit from more job and housing opportunities.

“We’re right in the middle of all the happenings,” he said. “We are like all other nonprofits in the area in terms of keeping our options open to the what if’s, but it’s our desire to benefit from the opportunities that are projected to happen here.”

Related movie: