Private Activity Bonds Would Finance $650M Hockey Arena in Downtown Detroit

CHICAGO -- Detroit would get a new partly bond-financed $650 million hockey arena and entertainment complex under a plan advanced by city officials Wednesday.

The project would span a 45-block area in downtown Detroit and house the $450 million, 18-000-seat arena and a $200 million residential, retail, and office space development.

The plan calls for the Michigan Strategic Fund to issue up to $300 million of 30-year private activity bonds to finance the project.

Debt service payments would come from local property taxes, the Red Wings hockey team, and the Downtown Development Authority, officials said.

Another $350 million would come from private sources.

The city, Wayne County, and various other bodies still have to approve the project.

The Red Wings are owned by Detroit’s Ilitch family, who also own the Little Caesars pizza chain and the Detroit Tigers baseball team. The Red Wings currently play at the Joe Louis Arena, built in 1979.

The Ilitches in December announced they were working with the state to build the new arena and entertainment complex.

The state enacted a law that allows the development authority to tap up to $12.8 million in revenue collected from a special taxing district to pay off bonds issued for the new arena.

The Downtown Development Authority Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding with Wayne County and Olympia Development LLC, which owns the Red Wings.

“I’m extremely pleased that a framework has been established for the development of a new downtown arena and a commercial, entertainment and residential district that will continue to add momentum to the transformation of the city,” Mayor Dave Bing said in a statement.

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Michigan
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