DETROIT, MI – And so the Detroit City Council pushed the vote back another week. The Detroit City Council again Monday pushed the vote on a set of zoning changes that would allow Olympia Development of Michigan to begin vertical construction on the 12 acre site in downtown Detroit.Olympia wants to have the $650 million project done by Sept. 2017, in time for the NHL season.
Three weeks ago, Olympia said the deadline was getting tight. The council is at a “sticking point”, according to Councilman Gabe Leland. The language surrounding the plans for the two blighted hotels near near the development site has the city’s legal department and Olympia tied up. Essentially, the legal department needs to specify whether Olympia has to get approval to redevelop the Hotel Eddystone before they demolish the Park Avenue. The resolution as it stands doesn’t have a binding agreement that would hold Olympia to actually developing the Hotel Eddystone if they’re granted approval to demolish the Park Avenue building.
While Olympia representatives said Monday that the City Council has to trust them to follow through on their word to redevelop the hotel, the City Council wasn’t buying it. “I have been here 10 years,” said Council President Brenda Jones. “I have seen trust come and go. “What I do trust is seeing something in writing.”