Photo from video from Crain's Detroit Business.
The big question is: Will a big chunk of a planned $200 million in retail, offices and apartments be developed around the same time the Red Wings hockey arena is ready in 2017, or will it lag far behind?
Nearly a year ago, Olympia Development announced that the lion's share of the retail and commercial development could be ready around the same time that the arena was completed, the News reports.
But Louis Aguilar of the Detroit News explores that questions, and the answer is: It's not very clear.
"I don't even see the majority of that 45-block overhaul starting before the arena is open," John Mogk, a Wayne State University law professor who closely follows Detroit development, tells the News.
"You need to prove a strong market for new residential and commercial, and what is in that area now doesn't make much of a case," Mogk said.
Aguilar writes:
That 45-block area, much of which is blighted or empty, stretches roughly from the northern edge of downtown near Grand Circus Park to the Cass Corridor.
Others say there is still time for it to come together to coincide with the arena's opening. The Ilitch organization, which owns Olympia Development and envisioned the new area north of the downtown core, isn't commenting.
"It can still be done, but the process would have to start soon," said Leo Phillips, a longtime Detroit-area developer who has been involved in such projects as the restoration of the Doubletree Fort Shelby Hotel and rental apartments.
