"There's a lot of taxpayer money tied up in this." Skeptics wonder if District Detroit is worth it, after Olympia pitches new plan

DETROIT (WWJ) -- "Is District Detroit worthy of such a large public investment?"

That's the question posed by Francis Grunow, who served as Chairman of the Neighborhood Advisory Committee — meant to be the public’s voice in the District Detroit project.

In case you're not familiar with District Detroit, in short, it's big plan by the billionaire Illitch family and its Olympia Development company to build out the north end of downtown, near Little Caesar's Arena.

"It was a vision, and ultimately a sales pitch, and right now it's an unfulfilled idea that has really fallen far short of what was promised to people," said Grunow, speaking to WWJ's Zach Clark for The Daily J podcast.

Grunow noted that hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds have been invested, with not a lot to show for it.

"And what's really a shame, and what we have to think about from like a public policy perspective...There's a lot of taxpayer money tied up in this," he said. "And people have, in terms of public officials and from the community side, seen and heard things that they want to believe. But in the meantime so little of it has actually been realized."

The initial plan was pitched in 2014, and then scrubbed from the website after construction on several planned "neighborhoods" — for example: a "Wildcat Corner" between Comerica Park and Ford Field — failed to materialize.

But there is some hope for the future of District Detroit. This conversation with Grunow comes shortly after Olympia presented a brand new plan, complete with fresh new renderings and a dose of optimism that this time it's gonna to happen.

Keith Bradford, President of Olympia Development, says this version, keeps some aspects of the original plan, will improving in other areas.

"This new plan's been enhanced and informed, as we said, by the community and those outreach efforts," Bradford said. "But also the significance — and I can underscore this — the Center for Innovation that we're bringing with the University of Michigan. We already have a great educational component with Wayne State at the Mike Illitch School of Business...But the combination of an educational anchor for the district, in connection with the already great entertainment venues we have, really took an opportunity for us to relook at things."

The new plan, according to Olympia, includes 700 residential units, over a million square feet of office space, 100,000 square feet of retail space and over 400 hotel rooms.

Companies like Olympia get big government tax breaks because, in theory, all of this stuff they build will bring in revenue for the city.

But skeptics, Grunow included, aren't so sure it's worth it.

"District Detroit, where the thing that was built was the LCA and, you know, it was supposed to be this catalyst to all this other development, at taxpayer expense," Grunow said.

Grunow noted that Comerica Park — built at taxpayers' expense — was supposed to be a catalyst, then LCA was supposed to be a catalyst.

"And now the Detroit Center for Innovation, which is the thing that is driving these announcements, you know, they're also talking about it as a catalyst." he said. "As I understand the word catalyst, it means one event that spurs all of this stuff, and I believe that that word is being a bit abused over time to get access to more of these incentives and tax abatements that really, I think, need to be evaluated in terns if the long term benefit."

Representatives for Olympia have said that they understand these concerns about the use of taxpayer funds, and insist that the community's need have been considered. In fact, they say it's those needs that are driving the project.

For the latest on the District Detroit plans, and to look at artist renderings of what Olympia says is to come, visit this link.

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