Olympia Development’s Progress in The District Detroit Continues

The District Detroit is steadily redeveloping a critical part of the city, including increasing retail, residential, educational, and commercial office developments

Olympia Development of Michigan remains dedicated to improving the lives of people who live, work, and play in Detroit and beyond. Through catalytic developments, innovative design and construction, and inclusive placemaking, Olympia Development continues to create jobs, increase tax base, and grow businesses in Detroit while steadily creating one of the world’s most dynamic sports and entertainment destinations, The District Detroit. The District Detroit also includes retail, residential, educational, and commercial office developments, such as the Mike Ilitch School of Business at Wayne State University, the Detroit Center for Innovation, and the Little Caesars World Headquarters.

Steady and balanced development continues, as demonstrated by the following complete or in-progress projects.

• Eddystone: The Eddystone has been completed on schedule, leasing is underway and new residents have started moving in as of December 1, 2021, offering 92 residential units, twenty percent of which are reserved as affordable housing. The local team from Four Man Ladder, operators of Detroit favorites Grey Ghost and Second Best, will operate the Eddystone’s ground-floor restaurant, Basan.

• 2715 Woodward: Earlier this year, the state-of-the-art, new-construction building located at 2715 Woodward Ave., between Little Caesars Arena and the Mike Ilitch School of Business opened. Olympia Development was pleased to welcome tenants Warner Norcross + Judd LLP and Boston Consulting Group to The District Detroit as both organizations have moved into their office spaces in 2021.

• Women’s City Club: Work is nearing completion on the revitalization of the historic Women’s City Club building, which will become a hub for small businesses and entrepreneurs, creating jobs and bringing increased density to the Park Avenue Historic District. The building will include 46,000 square feet of office space, including new occupant, Spaces – an open, shared office concept from IWC plc – and 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

• Henry Street redevelopment: Olympia Development partnered with Cinnaire Solutions to explore the revitalization of seven, 1920s-era historic buildings on a single city block bounded by Henry Street, Cass Avenue, 2nd Street, and the I-75 service drive.  The proposed redevelopment will help to energize the local economy and support the city’s neighborhood revitalization strategy, while providing green spaces and the creation of construction and permanent jobs for Detroiters. Planning work is actively underway, and the project earned  LIHTC support earlier this year. In addition, Olympia Development, Cinnaire Solutions, and Detroit Public Schools partnered with Project Destined to offer a real estate internship program for Detroit kids, during which students focused on the Henry Street redevelopment.

• Columbia Street: This pedestrian-friendly dining and retail destination continues to grow as more small businesses move in. This year, local independently-owned Union Assembly and Eminem’s Mom’s Spaghetti opened in the ground floor of the Little Caesars World Headquarters – the first major headquarters built in Detroit in more than a decade – joining Frita Batidos and M Den on Columbia Street. Columbia Street has hosted a variety of District Detroit free events including Workouts featuring Pilates and HIIT training classes, the popular Art Walks series highlighting the work of Detroit-area artists and Acoustic Nights headlining local bands. In 2022 The District Detroit looks forward to returning many events to Columbia Street and introducing several new ones.

Here’s a snapshot of the economic benefits of The District Detroit to the people of the city, region and state of Michigan:

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