Politics

The Daunting Challenge of Replacing Joe Louis Arena

April 23, 2014, 6:05 AM

By Danny Fenster

The Red Wings are not the only ones fighting at the Joe.

The city is faced with the daunting challenge of finding a productive use for the "problematic riverfront land" once the Joe is torn down, Louis Aguilar reports in the Detroit News. If it doesn't find someone to develop the site, taxpayers could end up footing the $6 million bill for the Joe's demolition. 

Now that the Joe Louis Arena is destined for the wrecking ball, the city of Detroit faces the tough task of finding deep-pocket investors to develop what real estate analysts and urban planners say is a problematic riverfront property.

A half-dozen analysts of Detroit commercial real estate say the site has significant drawbacks, even though it sits amid a rebounding downtown and riverfront area. That’s because the corner lot, which holds the 140,000-square-foot arena, is hemmed in by a parking ramp, an expressway and a loading dock area of Cobo Center.

“It’s surrounded by such heavy infrastructure," Dan MacDonald, an executive vice president for the Detroit office of JLL, Jones Lang LaSalle, told the News. "What people want downtown is the ability to walk to other places. There are much easier sites to develop, even along the riverfront.” 

Groundbreaking on the Wings new arena, just south of the Cass Corridor, is expected soon, according to the News, and the team is scheduled to make the move there in 2016.

City and state officials hold more positive views of the land. The city estimate $1 billion in investment in Detroit's waterfront in the next decade. The state expects new housing, retail and hotel investment to pay back a loan from the Michigan Strategic Fund for demolition. 

Plans for the new arena were not without controversy. Stephanie Vaught, of the Sugar Law Center, called the deal that sold downtown lots for $1 to the Illitch's Olympia Development "a giveaway.

Cass Corridor residents are currently working to create a Neighborhood Advisory Committee to help work with Olympia on developing neighborhood benefits agreements from the new arena project. 


Read more:  Detroit News


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