07 May 2014
Red Wings arena plans gain development approval
BY Tom Anstey
Detroit's Downtown Development Authority (DDA) has approved a recommendation by Olympia Development of Michigan to name Barton Malow-Hunt-White as the general contractor for the new US$450m (£265m, €323) Detroit Red Wings arena.
The proposed 18,000-seater arena for the National Hockey League (NHL) team will replace the current Joe Louis Arena, which has been home to the Red Wings since 1927.
The development is part of a larger US$650m (£421m, €497m) project which will see US$200m (£117.8m, €216.3m) go towards a mixed-use complex, which would include a residential and retail area in addition to office space.
Developers of the project have said that public money will come from the existing economic development fund and would require no new taxes or funds from Detroit, which is the largest city in the country to be under state financial oversight. This means an emergency manager has been put in place to oversee the city's finances, which currently stand at US$14bn (£9bn, €10.7bn) in long-term debt.
The proposed arena would sit at Interstate 75 and Woodward Avenue, near the Detroit Tigers baseball team's Comerica Park and the Detroit Lions American football team's Ford Field.
Detroit say that the entire project will create about 8,300 jobs and have a US$1.8bn (£1bn, €1.3bn) economic impact for the area. As the proposed development made its way through the planning stages, several council members said they would sign off on it so long as Detroiters would reap employment from it. As a result, at least 51 per cent of construction jobs for the new arena will be filled by Detroit residents.
The Red Wings have stated that there will be US$367m (£238m, €280.5m) in private investment, while US$283m (£183.5m, €216.3m) in public funds will go towards the development.
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