If you translate the Ilitch organization press release about plans for a massive downtown redevelopment project into English, you’ll find very little substance behind the flash.
The Ilitch organization today announced it is taking a step forward with the public sector to explore the viability of a partnership…
The Ilitch organization is thinking about working with the government…
…to support the development of an innovative district in Detroit’s downtown core comprised of residential, retail and office facilities, anchored by a new state-of-the-art, multi-purpose events center.
…to build yadda, yadda, yadda a hockey arena.
The Ilitch organization is supporting House Bill 5463, as amended today, that allows the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) to continue capturing existing funds that would support a catalytic development in Detroit.
The Ilitch organization will do all this if we can get some public money to help pay for it.
It would be fantastic if Team Ilitch builds a multi-million dollar downtown district with “residential, retail and office facilities” as well as a hockey arena. As economic development projects requiring public subsidy go, this one could certainly merit a few million in tax dollars.
However, these things are easier promised than delivered. Even in New York City, the comparable Barclays Center/Atlantic Yards project hasn’t delivered on its mixed-use promise. The arena was built. The housing and office space, not so much. At least not yet.
What’s more, we’ve been down this road too often with the Ilitch organization.
Comerica Park was supposed to anchor the redevelopment of Ilitch-owned property near the Fox Theater. (UPDATE: In fact, Sports Business Daily reports the Ilitches twice, in 1996 and 2000, announced plans for a new entertainment district anchored by Comerica Park.) In reality, small-scale entrepreneurs like Sean Harrington and Jerry Belanger have turned Park Avenue into a thriving entertainment district in spite of the Ilitch real estate holdings rather than because of them.
In 2006, just before Super Bowl XL, Chris and Atanas Ilitch announced plans to renovate the vacant Detroit Life Building across the street from long-vibrant Town Pump. They also said the company was open to proposals to restore the vacant but iconic United Artists Building. Both structures remain rotting shells.
At other times, the Ilitches made a public push to get Quicken to build a headquarters on their property, tried to attract major retailers downtown, and possibly considered capping I-75. None of it happened.
I’m not saying a new hockey arena is a bad idea. Joe Louis Arena is among the NHL’s oldest venues, plus a windowless building on Detroit’s picturesque riverfront never made sense. It would be great to see the scheme floated today come to fruition.
Clearly, the Ilitches think this “innovative district” is the carrot they need to offer to win public funding for their hockey arena state-of-the-art, multi-purpose events center, but given the track record, it’s not something anyone should count on.
Let's see work begin in earnest on those offices and storefronts before we put up this a nickel of taxpayer money for the new hockey arena.
