District Detroit: $1.5 billion development to include housing, retail, offices, 2 hotels
Candice WilliamsDetroit — Olympia Development and Related Companies plan $1.5 billion in development that will bring housing, office, retail and two hotels across 10 properties in the District Detroit, fulfilling a longstanding vision for creating vibrant neighborhoods near Little Caesars Arena.
The firms released details about the project Tuesday, saying it builds on plans for the Detroit Center for Innovation, a $250 million, three-building satellite campus for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, as well as other development in the area. Olympia is building the center in partnership with New York-based Related Companies, owned by UM alumnus and benefactor Stephen Ross.
Plans call for 695 mixed-income residential units, 1.2 million square feet of commercial office space, 100,000 square feet of retail and 467 hotel rooms across the 10 properties in downtown Detroit, according to the developers. The project involves the construction of six buildings and the renovation of four buildings. Two of the projects were previously announced when plans for the innovation center were unveiled in December.
When complete, the project will support more than 6,000 jobs and generate more than $500 million in wages annually in the city, officials said. The development will create 12,000 temporary construction-related jobs and generate more than $800 million in wages.
“The construction and operations of each project will help our state and region attract the world’s leading companies and top talent to Detroit while maximizing economic opportunity for those who are already here," said Keith Bradford, president of Olympia Development of Michigan and The District Detroit, in a statement Tuesday. "We look forward to working with the city and community partners to garner input while creating places and spaces all Detroiters can enjoy.”
Related’s involvement is a good sign the plans will come to fruition, said Erik Gordon, a professor at UM’s business school: “Related has more experience in the process of moving large urban projects from concept to actually built. If Olympia and Related can stay together as a team, they can do a lot more for Detroit.”
The Ilitches faced criticism after the opening of Little Caesars Arena in 2017 that promised development in the district was slow to materialize. Construction has started to ramp up in recent years with the opening of historic Eddystone residences in fall 2021 and groundbreaking this year on the Residences @ 150 Bagley, led by Bagley Development Group.
Francis Grunow, a Detroit resident and District Detroit watchdog, said the only difference he sees after years of promises is Olympia's partnership with Related.
“I have a high degree of skepticism," he said. "I also want the project to succeed. I want these buildings restored. I want new residential online. … We're basically treading water so they really need to start delivering on these units because it's a decade later and we're not making progress the way that we all believe that this place, that this neighborhood deserves.”
The project announced Tuesday "will build on the successful progress such as Little Caesars world headquarters, 2715 Woodward, the Eddystone residences and the multiple historic residential developments open or underway,” Bradford said.
The Ilitches and Ross have been in partnership since at least fall 2021, after Ross announced in July of that year that he and Dan Gilbert's Bedrock development company would not build an innovation center on the 14-acre Gratiot site of the former failed Wayne County Jail. At the time, Ross’s Related said the center would be built elsewhere in the city. Olympia and Related publicly confirmed their plans in December.
Developers say they will seek a state transformational brownfield incentive for the project and will file a transformational brownfield plan application with the Michigan Economic Development Corp. They also announced plans to hold the first meeting later this month with area residents under the city’s community benefits ordinance.
“Developments of this quality and scale provide incredible opportunity for Detroiters to directly benefit from them, whether that means job training in the construction trades, employment in the developments, affordable housing or being part of the process to negotiate a community benefits package,” said Nicole Sherard Freeman, Detroit's Group Executive for Jobs, Economy & Detroit at Work. “Residents who engage in this process will have the ability to help shape the transformational possibilities this development will have on this district for years to come.”
Developers say construction of an office building at 2200 Woodward is expected to begin in 2023 once they have secured private financing and public incentives.
Four residential projects will have a total of 695 units. Twenty percent will be set aside as affordable housing based on 50% area median income, developers said.
New residential construction will include 2250 Woodward Ave., a proposed mixed-use development with residential space and ground-floor retail, and 2205 Cass Ave., a residential building that will be part of the previously announced Detroit Center for Innovation.
Residential buildings that will undergo historic preservation are: 408 Temple St., a brown brick and terra cotta building formerly known as the American/Fort Wayne Hotel. The developers propose to renovate the building to include residential space and first-floor retail.
The two proposed hotels include a previously announced inn at 2455 Woodward, next to Little Caesars Arena and 2211 Woodward Avenue, an adaptive reuse of the current Fox Office Building to a hotel. Developers say the project will not alter the historic Fox Theatre.
Proposed commercial office building projects with first-floor retail and office space are 2200 Woodward Ave. and 2300 Woodward Ave. Buildings also under consideration are 2305 Woodward Ave. or 2300 Cass Ave.
The developers have also proposed a business incubator for 2115 Cass Ave., the former Loyal Order of the Moose Lodge building, for part of the Detroit Center for Innovation campus.
“It’s exciting to see this project — which holds so much promise for the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan — taking these important next steps," UM President Santa J. Ono said in a statement. "We are looking forward to increasing our engagement and presence in the city."
The first community meeting regarding the project will be held at 6 p.m. Nov. 29 at Cass Technical High School. The proposed development area covers 6,500 households in the city’s District 5 and District 6.
Twitter: @CWilliams_DN