New Wayne State business school to build buzz for Red Wings arena district
The deal to build Wayne State University's new business school in the mixed-use entertainment district anchored by the new Detroit Red Wings arena is a business development strategy torn straight from the playbook of a hockey rival. In Columbus, Ohio, the owner of the Columbus Blue Jackets has spent 15 years populating 75 acres around Nationwide Arena with not only chain restaurants, hip bars and funky apartments, but also corporate headquarters and more than 1 million square feet of Class A office space. That's the recipe to create density both day and night, year-round, urban planners say. It was announced on Friday that Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch will donate $40 million to Wayne State for construction of a 120,000-square-foot multistory building of classrooms, offices and other spaces for about 4,500 students. The urban planning consultant for the Ilitch family's grand vision of a sprawling mixed-use rehabilitation of 50 blocks around the new Detroit Red Wings arena said people living in the district are the key to making it work. The business school becomes a second anchor after the $532.5 million arena for the district.
