The city of Detroit plans to spend $2.76 million to reopen the 40-year-old Joe Louis Arena parking garage.

City Council on Tuesday approved a contract for the capital improvements that will be managed through the Detroit Building Authority.

The 2,600-space parking garage at 900 W. Jefferson Ave. is expected to reopen at the end of this year or first quarter of next year, DBA director Tyrone Clifton told City Council.

A contractor has yet to be selected. Clifton said an RFP will be issued by late July or early August.

The large concrete structure, adjacent to the vacant former home of the Detroit Red Wings, closed when the team moved to Little Caesars Arena in 2017. Its fate has been uncertain as demolition plans move ahead for the arena. City Council approved the capital improvements unanimously, signaling the garage will remain.

The cost to demolish the arena, a contract awarded to Detroit-based Adamo Group, is expected to be $12 million and be complete around the same time the parking garage reopens. The city is required to pay for the demolition in its agreement with Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. The New York-based firm took ownership of the prime riverfront property as part a deal cut during the city's bankruptcy, which caused the company large losses when Detroit couldn't repay its debt.

The parking garage was not part of that deal and is still owned by the city. Even before the Wings left, the garage was in sore need of repairs. The city agreed to $2.5 million of improvements in 2014, Crain's reported.

If large-scale redevelopment plans there come to fruition, the area could once again become a destination that demands that level of parking space.

City representatives could not be reached Tuesday evening for more information.

Approval for the renovations comes on the heels of City Council approving the sale of the Millennium parking garage at 432 W. Congress St. The $7.1 million from the sale is being used to fund a land deal the city struck to secure a $2.5 billion investment and promise of 5,000 jobs from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.