A New Contender?

There has been much speculation over where the Detroit Red Wings will build their new arena if they decide not to renovate the Joe Louis Arena. The leading contenders are Foxtown on the swath of parking lots behind the Fox Theater and the land the city has recovered from the failed Motown Center project West of Woodward and North of I-75.

Foxtown Site

Motown Center Site

The latest rumor suggest that a new arena will be built at Grand River and the Lodge on the site of the closed East Jefferies housing projects. The rationale being that traffic from Red Wings games and other events would spill over to the Ilitch owned Motor City Casino. This would solidify a second Ilitch controlled entertainment district bridging the gap between the Motor City Casino and the Masonic Temple which Olympia Entertainment is now booking.

Jefferies East (part of Foxtown North?)

HUGE Campus Martius News

The Mayor Kilpatrick is set to announce the details to a $150-million residential, retail and entertainment center for Downtown Detroit on Wednesday. The mixed use "Cadillac Centre" development will be built on the long vacant Monroe block at Campus Martius. Financing is lined up with ground breaking set for the fall of 2009.

The New York property firm Northern Group Inc. will build and own the property. The company already owns the Penobscot, the First National building and Cadillac Tower.

The plans call for 2 24 story apartment towers connected by a 12 story entertainment center containing a movie theater, restaurants, stores and a health club. The design will be cutting-edge. If the renderings are any indication, the curvy edged modernistic complex will be the most daring architecture the area has seen in decades. Detroit will either have a new signature building or be the butt of further jokes. Only time will tell.

Cadillac Centre Project Details:

• 84 apartments,
• 30,000-square-foot market
• 100,000 + square feet of major retail space
• 14,400 square-foot health club
• 40,000-square-foot public park with water features,
• 25,000 + square feet for boutiques and specialty shops
• 800 parking spaces.

**UPDATE 10-3-08**

Quicken wants to know what you think.

Quicken has posted a question on Yahoo answers asking where it should build its new headquarters.

The choices are the Hudson's site and the Statler site.

You can vote here.

Cass Corridor Setback

James Wickenheiser, a prominent developer in Brush Park, has reneged on his deal to buy the Harbor Light Center and several neighboring properties in the lower Cass Corridor from the Salvation Army for $3 million. Part of the deal, completed in 2005 with Wickenheiser's Detroit Urban Living, included providing insurance and securing for the Louis Kamper designed building.

Wickenheiser failed to provide security, allowing the building to be scrapped of its fixtures, window frames, and copper. According to lawsuit filed against Wickenheiser, the resulting damaged has left the building at half of its original value.

The Salvation Army is trying to get rid of the property and will not try to salvage it for its own purposes. This may put the building at risk if the Detroit Red Wings decide to build a new Hockey Arena on property currently owned by the city of North of I-75 and West of Woodward. The Harbor Light Center began life in 1925 as the Park Avenue Hotel and was one of three residential hotels designed and developed by Louis Kamper and Lew W. Tuller.

The Griswold Project Scrapped

The collapse of the housing market has claimed yet another victim. The 80 luxury condominium Griswold Project that was set to be built above the new 10-story Book Cadillac parking garage has been scrapped. The Detroit Downtown Development Authority and the Roxbury Group must pay $1.5 million after canceling an order for Steel and precast concrete molds.

Slow sales have at best, delayed the project, but the group is willing to reconsider the deal if the housing market improves. Only nine units had been sold by December 1st, with another seven set to be sold. This was not enough to meet the requirement that 20 units be sold by the end of the year. An extra $750,000 was spent by the city to reinforce the garage so condominiums could be built on top.

Remnant

Remnant, originally uploaded by A Dubs.

The remains of the high speed test track at the Packard Proving Grounds. Shelby Township, MI

Rosa Parks Transit Center

Work at the Whitney

The upper facades on the David Whitney building have had some repair work undertaken recently. Workers have been Tuck pointing the brickwork and replacing damaged areas. A crane was lifting palates of glazed white bricks onto the roof last week.

Detroit 2.0

In case you missed it, Dan Gilbert has offically announced that he is moving his 4,000 employee strong Quicken Loans company to Downtown Detroit. Gilbert has contractually promised the city that he will make a final decision within the next 12 months to build his headquarters on one of two possible sites. The new headquarters will be built either on a site at Grand Circus Park that includes the locations of the now demolished Statler & Tuller Hotels and the currently vacant United Artists Building, or above the city's Premier Garage, which is the former site of Hudson's building.

Once the decision is made, it will take another 18 to 24 months to complete due diligence, renderings and construction plans. Gilbert is intent on developing both parcels of land and brining other companies into the mix. The city has also given Gilbert options to develop the Lafayette building and two city owned parking lots between Broadway and Library as part of the agreement.

Hudsons Site

Statler Site

Lafayette Building

City parking lots between Library and Broadway

The Watermark

Ilitch Blocker Rising

Work is picking up at the new C.C. Bar.

October, 2007November, 2007