Chris Ilitch has yet to deliver on his promise of transforming the District Detroit lots into developmentGETTY IMAGES
There "may be good reasons the Ilitch organization isn't delivering on the promises it made to Detroit" when receiving $340M from the city to help build Little Caesars Arena, but the Ilitches "aren't telling anyone what they are, or when the city might expect to see some progress," according to Nolan Finley of the DETROIT NEWS. Under the timetable laid out by the Ilitch family for District Detroit, "two phases of the project should be well on their way to delivering nearly 700 new apartments," but the "area where the swanky neighborhoods were supposed to go are covered with 27 surface parking lots." The lots are servicing the arena and "producing revenue for the Ilitches, but not the transformation" Ilitch Holdings President & CEO Chris Ilitch "promised when he revealed the company's vision." Last week, HBO's "Real Sports" aired a "damning report," following a "similar expose in Crain's Detroit Business last month." The company's statement after the HBO report "doesn't explain why those commitments aren't being met, or whether they will be" (DETROITNEWS.com, 4/28).
WIDER IMPLICATIONS: Detroit News columnist Daniel Howes said the Ilitch family now "finds itself fighting a recurring public relations battle" in the wake of the “Real Sports” segment, and the “central charge is not new to both champions and critics of the family.” The development that was "promised as part of the deal to get public money has yet to materialize.” This is a "problem, not just for the Ilitch family,” but it is a "problem only they can fix." Other would-be projects in the region now “must navigate public skepticism deepened by the partially unfulfilled promises” of District Detroit (DETROITNEWS.com, 4/27).
