Red Wings New Arena and New Jobs for Detroiters Mohammad H. Bhurgri Wednesday, January Economocs 5520 State and Local Public Finance By: Joe Guillen Detroit Free Press Business Writer, LinkLink

New Jobs The construction of the new arena which is expected to be a $450 million project is going to create hundreds of new jobs. This will boost the local economy in the short term and because of the amount of people that attend Red Wings games will have a long term effect on existing businesses that are already in the area.

More Development There is also a $200 million development project around the area of the new arena. This new project will allow new businesses to set up around the new arena and will create thousands of new jobs to the City of Detroit.

Location The new arena is expected to cover a large amount of land that is either vacant or contains abandoned buildings. By placing the arena here, the project would use all the available land and get rid of the blight that is apparent at this location. This improves the image of the City of Detroit and uses the land to build something that can help the local economy.

Ownership of Arena The arena will be owned by the Detroit Downtown Development Authority and will be operated by Olympia Development of Michigan. All of the revenue that is gained by the arena including concessions and parking goes to Olympia Development of Michigan. Although the City of Detroit may not get any profit from the arena, the arena attracts more people to the cities businesses.

Areas surrounding the arena Many community leaders around the arena are trying to get a community benefits agreement from Olympia Development of Michigan, a Ilitch-owned company, that will protect homeowners around the area, regulate hiring of workers, and environmental concerns.

Detroit Downtown Development Authority The Detroit Downtown Development Authority and the Olympia Development of Detroit have agreed to hire at least 51% of workers from Detroit that will be working on the construction and development of the arena and the surrounding area. The community benefits agreement is one way that will see that this promise held.

Cost for Detroit In total the project is estimated to be $650 million. The construction of the arena would be 58% publicly funded while the remaining 42% will be from private funding. None of the public funds will be coming for the Detroit public fund. All of the public funding is from the state. The only thing left for the City of Detroit to do is to transfer the public land. A public hearing of the land transfer is scheduled for this Wednesday at 5 P.M. at council chambers.