Ilitch unveils Red Wings arena and 5 new downtown neighborhoods (Detroit: 2014, apartments)

[animatedmartian]

Hockey, housing and more: Ilitches unveil 'bold vision' for Red Wings arena district | Detroit Free Press | freep.com



A state of the art arena, as many as 2,000 new housing units, and at least 8,300 construction jobs will transform downtown Detroit within the next three years starting this September.

[MS313]

Wow, what can I say? I have been waiting for something as bold as this all of my life. Now if we can get the Pistons to move to this area OMG. And I really wouldn't feel sorry for Oakland County, and if this move is made eventually I hope to God L Brooks Patterson lives to see it .

Let's also say our final goodbye's to the "parking lot" district known as northwest downtown . Good riddance. Now if someone could just find something to do with the rest of Brush Park .

Anyway, great day to be a Red Wings fan. I don't watch hockey much but when this new stadium is built I just might buy some tickets. That stadium looks cold as hell.

[4DM1N]

Hopefully they move the Pistons downtown with this. Then downtown will be booming.

[animatedmartian]

Pfft, Pistons gotta get good first or else moving wouldn't make a difference. But yea, it would be better going to a game here than out in Auburn Hills.

[4DM1N]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

Pfft, Pistons gotta get good first or else moving wouldn't make a difference. But yea, it would be better going to a game here than out in Auburn Hills.

Detroit is a sports town, which I think goes hand-in-hand with the mantra, "if you build it, they will come". It's easy to avoid driving way up to Auburn Hills (middle of nowhere) for a bad team. As more and more people move in to downtown, it will probably be close to full no matter what.

[MS313]

The Pistons are one disappointing team right now, they're the modern day Detroit Lions smh. Speaking of the Lions, they better have a better season this year too.

What I love about this project is that it takes on an entire area, not just a building or two. When you look at downtown from Brush Park you know that Downtown and Midtown are just begging to be connected. And that's what this project does. Too bad the project doesn't stretch for a few more blocks up to MLK. If I could I would buy the vacant space in those blocks (and the rest of brush park actually) and build some street side mid-rise residential buildings to keep the urban streetscape feel and maybe build a couple of high rise apartments for those who want a view of downtown Detroit. This will fill up the majority of the space left in Midtown, if demand stays high, developers will have no choice but to be bold and start building in *gasp* neighborhoods.

How do you guys think this area will compare to Greektown? Do you think it compare as far as vibrancy and urbanity goes? do you think it will put Greektown to shame? How do you think this area will be on non game days?

[Retroit]

Does anyone really want to live near a stadium?

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by MS313

What I love about this project is that it takes on an entire area, not just a building or two. When you look at downtown from Brush Park you know that Downtown and Midtown are just begging to be connected. And that's what this project does. Too bad the project doesn't stretch for a few more blocks up to MLK. If I could I would buy the vacant space in those blocks (and the rest of brush park actually) and build some street side mid-rise residential buildings to keep the urban streetscape feel and maybe build a couple of high rise apartments for those who want a view of downtown Detroit. This will fill up the majority of the space left in Midtown, if demand stays high, developers will have no choice but to be bold and start building in *gasp* neighborhoods.

Many developers have already been rumored to buy up the area. Detroit's former Chinatown, a group of buildings at Cass and MLK, not to mention the soon to be constructed residential building on Woodward and Stimson will help a lot in filling in the gaps. It's only a matter of time before developers are kicking themselves in the butt for not buying vacant land when they could have.

How do you guys think this area will compare to Greektown? Do you think it compare as far as vibrancy and urbanity goes? do you think it will put Greektown to shame? How do you think this area will be on non game days?

Greektown. Ugh. To be honest, Greektown isn't really a neighborhood anymore, imo. It's basically the casino and then the exterior restaurants. But the way the casino is built isn't designed to really compliment the restaurants. If anything, the casino is designed to funnel patrons directly into the casino and away from the street meaning most people don't bother to venture out of the casino unless they're specifically curious. The restaurants are a draw because they're unique and charming. At the same time though, I don't imagine as many restaurants would have survived were it not for the draw to the casino.

I believe the arena will do a better job of integrating with the neighborhood and become a major focal point rather than becoming a dead zone between major events. Judging from the renderings, it almost seems like a mall/stadium hybrid; lots of retail almost directly fronting the stadium. The area might become so unique that it's a draw unto itself and might be the reason they expect spurred off development.

[Bimmerfanboy]

Originally Posted by 4DM1N

Detroit is a sports town, which I think goes hand-in-hand with the mantra, "if you build it, they will come". It's easy to avoid driving way up to Auburn Hills (middle of nowhere) for a bad team. As more and more people move in to downtown, it will probably be close to full no matter what.

I highly doubt that. People didn't come watch the Tigers in their brand new stadium when they were racking up those 100+ loss seasons. As long as the Pistons play poorly, their attendance will be at its current level. When the Pistons played well for much of the '00s decade the Palace was sold out and bumping every night. People will come out to see a winner. It is still one of the NBA's best arenas and was recently renovated. I don't see Gores and crew wanting to leave that and be a tenant in somebody else's building.

And while the Palace is a bit north, it is still pretty close to many of its fans. I used to live in the area and it is a stone's throw away from many of the suburbs.

[Bimmerfanboy]

Anyhow, while I still believe that the city got the short end of the stick on the arena deal, I really like this concept and hope they can execute the project the way it's been envisioned. The concept is quite innovative. I'm very glad that Detroit is aiming for more contemporary architecture instead of building a tired-looking mundane structure like Ford Field.

The big question here is whether this will truly benefit the city in the long-run. The other two stadiums were not the "game-changers" that they were hyped up to be. Although, people go there for games and concerts, they sit empty for most of the year when there are no events are taking place. Long-term sustainability is the key. If the developers can get enough corporate tenants to occupy the area, then these new neighborhoods will surely attract young professionals who would help rebuild the city's tax base and keep the area busy year-round. It could also become a premier destination in the metro region that people from the suburbs would visit regularly whether there's a game taking place or not.