In case you missed it, last week was an exciting week here in Detroit as many major developments were announced. Let’s take a look and see what happened:

MLS Stadium Proposal: http://www.freep.com/story/sports/2016/04/27/mls-soccer-detroit-gilbert/83593500/

  • General Overview: This announcement was special to me because the press conference was held live in my office at Rossetti. I’ve never witnessed something like that before. Dan Gilbert, the MLS Commissioner, and Matt Rossetti spoke to the press about putting a soccer entertainment district on the site of the abandoned Wayne County jail. It was a controversial announcement. About just as controversial as the jail itself.
  • Personal Opinion: I’ll save an entire blog post about this for another day but personally I would prefer to see this development vs. ANOTHER jail downtown any day.  I think Detroit’s made too many other poor urban design choices in the last 50 years to not support this happening.

Hudson Site: http://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2016/04/27/hudsons-detroit-gilbert/83585792/

  • General Overview: Hudson’s Department store went out of business in 1983 and the historic store building downtown was demolished in 1998. It has sat vacant ever since with only a below ground parking garage in it’s place. Last week, a preliminary approval was given by the Downtown Development Authority to go ahead with a new development that was proposed last year. The land will officially be sold to Dan Gilbert and his real estate affiliates so developmpent can begin.
  • Personal Opinion: I happen to live one block north of this site and look forward to seeing construction happen. I’ll walk by it on my way to work every day! It is a very big gap in the City’s downtown.

Little Caesars Arena:  http://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2016/04/28/detroit-hockey-nhl-little-caesars-ilitch-red-wings-arena/83650554/

  • General Overview: The much awaited naming announcement of the Detroit Red Wings new arena was released last week as “Little Caesars Arena”. This sparked even more controversy as many fans, looking for a name like “Hockeytown Arena” or “Gordie Howe Arena”, were upset. I’ve seen many petitions going around the internet asking the Illitch’s to change the name. The deal is done though and we’ll all look forward to experiencing “The District” in the near future.
  • Personal Opinion: The Illitch’s are proud of Little Caesars, and rightfully so. I, along with many other fans, view the brand as cheap pizza with little nutritional value. Which is what it is. It may be hardly representative of the Red Wings legacy here in Detroit but I will say that in a year I don’t think anyone will care. We got used to Ford Field and Comerica Park pretty quickly and they are normal to us now. I just hope that they sell pizza in the arena for $5 like everywhere else. I will never buy one at Comerica Park for $20 when the $5 hot and ready is the heart of their advertising. That’s just the definition of price gouging.

Other Projects: http://detroit.curbed.com/maps/detroit-construction-map-news-development

  • On top of all this, there are developments happening all over the city and Curbed Detroit recently released an article highlighting 21 of the biggest. Check it out!

There are still other issues to be solved throughout the city but it’s getting better everyday and it’s a great time to live here.