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Detroit loses a hell of man...

Indeed..... Sad day for Detroit. I was hoping he would make it so that he could see his new Arena open.

Rename Little Caesars Arena to the Illitch-Howe Arena

The arena is already named after him...kind of. When he was first starting out selling pizza his wife called him Little Caesar as a joke . When he opened his first store...they went with it as the name.

Detroit is definitely losing a GREAT sports team owner. He's done some good for the city as a whole, as well, although he had a few shady dealings to make some of that happen. And of course it was all done with his profits in mind more than anything (not that I blame him).

I believe he funded > 50% of Comerica by himself, and that is unheard of in this era of sports stadiums. He had a vision of a grand sports complex with surrounding entertainment/dining and it looks as though that vision is finally starting to come to fruition. Between he & Gilbert they've invested hundreds of millions, if not billions, into the rebuilding of Detroit's downtown. They've still got some work to do, but I think that the opening of Little Caesar's arena is the catalyst to start that final push. Between the 4 stadiums and the 2 theaters there will be at least one event in that district probably 345+ nights a year. Restaurants & bars should flock to fill any remaining space, and finally you're going to have an area that you don't just "go to a game and go home", but park and stay for a few hours on either side of that game.


As a Tigers fan, though, I'm a bit worried about the future of the franchise. I don't know how committed his kids are to running that team to win the way Mike was. I would LOVE to see them sell it to Gilbert. He's an upper echelon owner of the Cavs, and no doubt it would aid his Detroit interests to have a stake in one of those teams as well.

Chris Ilitch is taking over the leadership...at one time everyone thought it would be Denise Ilitch ...but Chis appears to have won whatever family power struggle there was. With the new arena coming on line and all that development around it..hanging onto the Wings makes sense. The Tigers? maybe not. Gilbert has the $$$ but with the Pistons moving downtown there's another billionaire with ties to the area ...Tom Gores...moving in.

So far as Detroit goes...the arena project and the Qrail up Woodward creates a corridor from the river through Greektown past Foxtown, Midtown and Wayne State all the way to New Center ..home of the Fisher theater and the 50,000 watt blow torch WJR.

The city is ready...literally...to explode with development.

Amazing what throwing a few corrupt public officials in jail can do for development...

And don't forget tearing down the semi built jail and bringing in an MLS team, another hotel for Greektown casino and restaurants. You now have Microsoft Tech building downtown. Wayne State is over its Max with students. And best news of all, Shake Shack opens in 2 weeks!!!