PROJECTS—URBAN

Dancing to a New Detroit

The Make-Over of Motown

 

by Judi Biederman

 

The city of Detroit is enjoying an unprecedented era of revitalization and growth. Long known as the capital of the U.S. automobile industry and a Mecca of music (hence the moniker “Motown”), today Detroit is being turned into one of the hottest retail/entertainment destinations in the country. The downtown area of the city, which has recently seen millions of dollars poured into new facilities and renovations in its cultural district and a new world headquarters for General Motors, will see further billions invested in the next few years into two new sports stadiums anchoring a new entertainment/retail district, a shopping area around a new headquarters for Compuware, and the advent of casino gambling.

 

The Tigers stadium will be known as Comerica Park. The opening is scheduled for April 2000. The 40,000-seat facility will cost $260 million, being financed by Detroit Tigers owner Michael Ilitch and a bank consortium led by Sumimoto ($145 million); the Michigan Strategic Fund ($55 million); and the Detroit-Wayne County Stadium Authority, City of Detroit Downtown Development Authority and Wayne County ($60 million). The project manager is International Facilities Group and the general contractor is Hunt-Turner-White. The design team is led by Smith, Hinchman and Grylls of Detroit, working with Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum Sports of Kansas City and The Rockwell Group of New York.

 

Both the Tigers and Lions stadiums will be owned by the Detroit-Wayne County Stadium Authority. Plans are still being made for the Lions Stadium, but the initial proposal for the $225-million facility calls for a 2005 opening. Groundbreaking has not been scheduled yet. When it is completed, the stadium will allow Detroit to secure future Super Bowls and other world-class events such as NCAA tournaments and political conventions.

 

The entertainment zone across from the Tiger stadium is being developed by Olympia Development LLC (313-983-6170), a real estate company formed in 1996 to focus on downtown Detroit projects. Olympia is a subsidiary of Ilitch Ventures, Inc., owned by the Ilitch family, which also owns the Detroit Tigers, the Detroit Redwings, the Little Caesars pizza chain, and a variety of other businesses. Now known as Columbia Street, the $15-million, three-story, 100,000-square-foot building has gotten a commitment from the Hard Rock Cafe, which will break ground on a 30,000-square-foot restaurant this year.

 

 Detroit has dubbed Columbia Street the ‘Avenue of Fun’ 

 

According to Al Sebastian, director of public affairs and community relations for Olympia, Hard Rock had initially planned a 15,000-square-foot facility, but upped the ante when its management saw the prospective area and plans for Detroit. The Detroit Hard Rock will contain features unique to Detroit and its history of music,  including a Motown room, a pink Cadillac bar as a tribute to Aretha Franklin, and a lighting fixture made up of 75 saxaphones. Hard Rock’s trademark guitar on the outside of the building may offer a few Detroit-unique options as well; if the technology can be worked out, plans call for the guitar to twang, smoke and shake whenever the Tigers hit a home run across the street.

 

Columbia Street, being privately financed by Ilitch Ventures, Inc., will be a new building constructed on the site of an old parking lot in Detroit’s historic theater district. Plans call for a 1920s-style brick facade in order to maintain historic authenticity. Detroit-area newspapers have dubbed it the “Avenue of Fun” because of Hard Rock’s debut into the city and because prospective tenants include other sports- and entertainment-themed concepts, planned to include a microbrewery and sports and blues bars along with upscale office space. The building will be surrounded by green space with seating and displays of public art and will act as a pedestrian thoroughfare to the ballparks across the street. The project is scheduled to open soon after Comerica Park in 2000. Management and leasing will be handled by Olympia Development.

 

Just a few blocks down, another new retail/entertainment district is being planned around a new headquarters for Compuware Corp. In April 1999, the computer giant announced that it had reached an agreement in principle to move its operations into downtown Detroit. The company plans more than a billion dollars in new buildings, expected to include a company headquarters, facilities for its automotive and health care businesses, underground parking, a technology conference center, a day care center, and a health club. Surrounding the Compuware headquarters will be a five-block district being called Campus Martius. Still being planned, the area is likely to include a hotel, one or two department stores, unique regional and national retailers, restaurants, entertainment venues, and parking. Schostak Brothers & Company (248-262-1000), along with the Sterling Group, developer Melvin Hollowell, Hamilton Anderson Associates Inc. and Exclusive Realty, have formed Kern Woodward Associates, which will develop the Campus Martius project. Compuware’s operations will be located near and some of them will connect to Renaissance Center, which General Motors purchased in 1996 for its new headquarters. GM is in the midst of a $500-million re-do of the former Westin Hotel into an office, hotel and retail complex.

 

Nearby, Detroit’s cultural district is also getting a facelift. Several theaters are scheduled for  renovation, to join more than $140 million in new facilities. The new $38-million Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, comprising 120,000 square feet, is largest African-American exhibit space in the county. Orchestra Place is an $80-million performing arts-educational-office center, adjoining Orchestra Hall. It includes a 50,000-square-foot expansion of Orchestra Hall, a new Detroit Public High School for the Fine and Performing Arts, a new six-story retail and office building, a 500-car parking garage and Duet, an upscale bistro. And the Detroit Opera House recently underwent a $23-million renovation.

 

Finally, the advent of gambling into Detroit is expected to cement downtown Detroit’s  entertainment district and truly transform it into a world-class destination. In late January 1999, the Detroit City Council approved the Waterfront Reclamation and Casino Development Modified Project Plan, which had been proposed by the city’s Economic Development Corporation. The plan made possible the development of a public park and recreational developments in a 137-acre tract along the Detroit River, including three permanent casino complexes. If all goes as planned, the land will be acquired by the city and then sold to the casino developers.

 

Three entities have been awarded Detroit casino franchises and await state approval to open temporary gaming facilities. Each developer has paid the City of Detroit the first year’s $4-million Municipal Services Fee. All are in the process of building temporary facilities, expected to open in late Summer into Fall 1999. Long-term plans call for the three permanent casinos, currently scheduled to open in 2002-2003, to operate side by side along the waterfront. The casino developers anticipate investing approximately $2 billion in new hotel and entertainment offerings.

 

The MotorCity Casino (313-237-7717) is being developed by Detroit Entertainment, L.L.C., a joint venture between Atwater Casino Group and Circus Circus Michigan, Inc. Its temporary facility will be in a renovated Wonder Bread factory, located on 12 acres at Grand River Avenue and the Lodge Freeway. Now undergoing a $150-million renovation, the four-story casino will have two areas for entertainment and shows. An adjoining building, connected to the casino by a skywalk, will contain four restaurants, expected to include a buffet facility, an as-yet-unannounced theme restaurant, a deli, and a fine dining concept. A pedestrian skyway will also connect the casino to a 3,000-space parking facility.

 

Circus Circus Michigan, Inc. will manage and operate MotorCity Casino. Primary public area design is by Terry Dougall Design of California (626-432-6460). Klai-Juba (702-221-2254) of Las Vegas and BEI Associates (313-963-2301) of Detroit are the project architects. Construction is by LaSalle/Skyline of Detroit (313-393-6228).

The $600-million proposal for the permanent MotorCity casino includes a combination hotel/casino with a plaza and garden, shopping mall, spa, brew pub and a performing arts center for Las Vegas-style shows.

 

 “Whether it stands for motors, moxie or money, there’s a lot of ‘mo’ in Motown”

 

The temporary Greektown Casino (313-963-3357), being developed by Greektown Casino LLC, is also a $150-million project. Co-partner on the project is the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Las Vegas-based Millenium Management (702-429-5300) will manage the facility. Greektown also owns the nearby Atheneum Hotel, which will be affiliated with the temporary casino and used conjunctively for special events, expected to include boxing. Plans are still evolving for the facility but are expected to include a circular bar around a glass sculpture in the middle of the main floor, several other bars, an upscale steakhouse with a small stage for performers, and a larger stage overlooking the gambling area. Design is by Paul Steelman Cos. of Las Vegas (702-873-0221). The permanent Greektown casino has been proposed as a $519-million structure with twin hotels, a theater, restaurants and a children’s center.

 

The MGM Grand Casino’s (313-393-7777) temporary structure, at an estimated cost of $203 million, will be in an extensively renovated building on Lodge Freeway at Abbott that formerly housed IRS offices. The old brick facade of the building is being transformed into an Art Deco exterior done in shades of cream, gold and bronze. Architects are Bergman, Walls and Youngblood (702-940-0000). The facility will contain 75,000 square feet of art deco-themed gaming space and three restaurants: Hollywood Brown Derby, featuring steak and seafood with an intimate piano lounge; Neyla, featuring Middle Eastern cuisine; and the MGM Grand Buffet, a 24-hour dining facility. Parking for 3,000 vehicles is planned in a new structure next door, to be connected to the casino by skywalks.

 

Development and management is by MGM Grand Detroit LLC. Construction is by a group of general contractors: Perini Building Company of Arizona (702-792-9209); White Construction of Detroit (313-872-6700); and W.E. O’Neil of Chicago (773-327-1611). More than two-thirds of financing commitments for MGM Detroit are from Michigan-based banks: Bank of America; NBD, a Bank One company; and Comerica. Michigan co-agent banks include Michigan National Bank, Old Kent Bank, National City Bank, and First Independence Bank of Detroit. The temporary MGM casino is planned to operate for four years. Then the company will open a permanent entertainment and gaming complex at an estimated cost of $800 million.

 

The Metropolitan Detroit Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates that the casino developments alone will draw five to seven million new visitors per year; in 1998, the metropolitan area was host to 16.2 million visitors who spent $4 billion in the local economy. Shopping and dining received the most expenditures at $1.2 billion and $1.1 billion respectively, followed by $720 million on lodging, $392 million on ground transportation, and $302 million on entertainment and recreation. All categories are expected to rise significantly with the retail and entertainment enhancements planned for the area. Whether it stands for motors, money or moxie, there’s a lot of ‘mo’ in Motown.