Detroit Continues Five-Year Redevelopment Stall

District Detroit covers numerous city blocks near Little Caesars Arena, promising housing, retail, and other urban amenities, but it hasn’t made much progress since it was first announced five years ago.

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If you’ve gone downtown recently you may have noticed large banners advertising a development called District Detroit.

In 2013, Olympia Development, a company owned by the Ilitch family, received around $324 million in tax incentives for the redevelopment project.

District Detroit covers numerous city blocks near Little Caesars Arena, promising housing, retail, and other urban amenities, but it hasn’t made much progress since it was first announced five years ago. 

Residents and business owners near the mainly empty city blocks of District Detroit are getting fed up. Journalist Tom Perkins wrote about the controversy for the British newspaper The Guardian.

Listen to his interview with CultureShift’s Amanda LeClaire with the audio player above. 

Author

  • Amanda LeClaire is an award-winning journalist and managing editor and lead reporter of WDET's new environmental series, the Detroit Tree Canopy Project, as well as WDET's CuriosiD podcast. She was the host of WDET’s CultureShift and a founding producer of the station’s flagship news talk show *Detroit Today*. Amanda also served as a Morning Edition host at WDET and previously worked as a host, audio and video producer, and reporter for Arizona Public Media.