Detroit is getting a brand new $450 million arena for the Detroit Red Wings hockey team to call home. Not only do plans by Olympia Development of Michigan include the arena itself, but what type of development can grow around it.
According to detroitnews.com, Olympia Development of Michigan’s new arena district will be based on a ‘deconstructred’ design, meaning that it will include separate buildings within a 45-block area surrounding the venue, as well as the venue itself.
Of those buildings to be controlled by Olympia, certain restrictions will be in place. Authorized development will include dry cleaning businesses, brewpubs, health clubs, professional or medical offices, restaurants, hotels, retail businesses, exhibition halls, and residences.
What won’t be allowed are warehouses, pawn shops, bail bondsman services, businesses that involve firearms or hazardous materials, rehab clinics, topless bars, and what interests me … psychic or tarot reading businesses.
I wonder when the brawling sport of hockey got so high-end, and when private companies (in this case, heavily subsidized by taxpayers) started getting the right to determine where other businesses are allowed to operate or not.