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For the past 37 years, the NHL's Detroit Red Wings have played at the storied Joe Louis Arena, pressed against the Detroit River in the city's downtown. Currently the third oldest active NHL arena, Joe Louis Arena — known locally as 'The Joe' — has been targeted for replacement for quite some time, and the wheels were finally put in motion back in 2012.
In mid-2014, the first renderings of a replacement facility in Midtown Detroit were revealed to the public under the working title 'Detroit Events Center.' Featuring a design by HOK Architects, the $627 million facility would act as the centrepiece of the new 'Woodward Square' neighbourhood. This is just one component of the larger 'District Detroit' plan which is expected to bring as much as $1.2 billion in investment to the city by 2020, including over $900 million in private funding.
Construction began in September 2014 and is quickly progressing for the new NHL venue. The latest milestone is the hoisting of the first 250,000-pound 'super truss' — a major structural component in the facility's roof — installed on the arena's Woodward Avenue frontage. Before the lift could take place, ironworkers from the locally based Midwest Steel spent almost two weeks assembling the truss, which was then connected to the main arena structure and a temporary shoring tower.
A sectional perspective rendering of the arena structure reveals the position of the roof truss seen above within the completed facility. The rendering also reveals the arena's intention to continue the rich and sometimes quirky traditions of the historic sports franchise, especially the inclusion of a giant inflatable octopus within the rendering.
The new neighbourhood, which will be easily accessible thanks to the new M-1 Woodward Avenue Streetcar line, is situated right next to the existing venues for the MLB's Detroit Tigers and the NFL's Detroit Lions, creating a sports and entertainment hub in the city's Midtown area. The Woodward Square neighbourhood will also feature 200,000 square feet of privately financed retail and office spaces housed in buildings at the eastern and southern edges of the new arena at Woodward Avenue and Henry Street. The four-storey structures will be divided into over 160,000 square feet of office space and over 55,000 square feet of retail space.
“The District Detroit will be a vibrant, world-class sports and entertainment destination, and it will also bring significant new retail, residential and office spaces to the heart of Detroit. We’re focusing on creating a uniquely Detroit experience featuring a mix of local and national entrepreneurs, chefs, restaurants and retail concepts,” said Steve Marquardt, vice president of Olympia Development of Michigan, the developer behind the project. “Less than 20 months from now, new offices, retail and restaurants will flourish on long underutilized sections of Woodward and Henry as these buildings open along with the new Detroit Events Center.”
The project is on schedule for a September 2017 opening, in time for the start of the 2017-2018 NHL season. Upon completion, the venue will be owned by Detroit's Downtown Development Authority, which will lease the site to Olympia Entertainment and the Red Wings rent-free for 95 years.
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