DETROIT, MI – Time is getting tight. The Detroit City Council is expected to vote Tuesday on zoning changes that will allow Olmypia Development of Michigan to begin vertical construction on the $450 million Red Wings arena and $200 million entertainment district at the 12-acre site in Detroit’s Cass Corridor.
The vote was postponed last week after Councilman Gabe Leland said the city’s legal department and Olympia officials needed to fine-tune language surrounding the two blighted hotels that sit on the western boundary of the future district.
Essentially, the city council wants an assurance that Olympia will follow through with current proposals to redevelop the Hotel Eddystone.
Last Monday, when the council voted to push the decision another week, the language would have roped the Hotel Park Avenue into Olympia’s planned development district. This would have allowed them to eventually demolish the building in order to make way for a park area and underground loading dock.
Lawyers representing the city told the council that the current language only required Olympia to submit proposals for the Eddystone redevelopment before demolishing the Park Avenue.
There was no requirement or assurance in the document that Olympia would actually ever redevelop the Eddystone building after demolishing its next-door neighbor.
