Two high-profile projects that have been long speculated about became reality in Midtown this year: M1 Rail, the Woodward Avenue streetcar line, and a hockey arena for the Detroit Red Wings.

Supporters of both projects predict an influx of visitors who will spend money downtown at current businesses and create demand for new retailers, restaurants, bars and housing.

M1 Rail -- the $137 million, 3.3-mile streetcar project that is a public-private nonprofit effort -- was finally announced in January, six years after preliminary design efforts began.

M1's plan is a mostly curbside-running, fixed-rail streetcar circulator system co-mingled with traffic, with 11 stops between Grand Boulevard and Congress Street. It will run in the median at its north and south ends.

Leaders .set of a goal of having the line in operation by the fourth quarter of 2015. Construction from Adams Street south to Congress is scheduled for June through August 2015; work happening north of Adams is expected to run from April 2014 to August 2015, according to M1's bid documents.

"Detroit's greater downtown needs what transit-oriented development brings: a greater population density along the region's most noted corridor in Woodward Avenue," said Malik Goodwin, vice president of project management for the

"As density increases, it not only supports the M1 Rail project itself but also bolsters the business case for other new investment. The establishment of this first line could help economic activity grow and support the development of more walkable districts and additional transit options along Woodward Avenue and other intersecting corridors that connect neighboring areas in Detroit and into the metropolitan region."

Those doing business now along the rail route in Midtown expect it to be a boost.

"In addition to the obvious economic development benefits of M1 Rail, we see lots of possibilities in mobility," said Annmarie Erickson, the's COO and executive vice president. "People along the line can take a quick 'art break' for lunch.

"Our Friday Night Live music series will be easily accessible and convenient to a larger audience. And how about a fast, fashionable retail fix at the museum shop? M1 will change the way we operate from downtown to Midtown to the north end."

Installation of a rail line typically creates $4 to $8 in new economic development activity in that corridor for every $1 spent on the line, transit experts insiders say.

Critics say M1 Rail is doomed to mostly empty streetcars because it doesn't extend outside downtown. To generate enough passenger traffic to create a real economic impact, they argue, the line would need to reach into the suburbs.

M1 backers, however, say they intended for their line to tap into other transit systems, such as the downtown rail link between Detroit and Ann Arbor and the Detroit and suburban bus systems -- as well as proposed regional rapid-transit bus service. They say someone else must fund the hundreds of millions of dollars it would cost to run the M1 line to Royal Oak or Pontiac.

Organizers of the hockey arena only recently made public their plans for the $650 million project.

The public portion of the arena is expected to cost $284.5 million. Detroit'sintends to use property taxes captured mostly from corporations within its 615-acre downtown district to pay off bonds being issued by the state to build the 18,000-seat arena at Woodward Avenue and I-75. The arena would house the Red Wings and be a venue for concerts and other events.

Thewill issue 30-year bonds to cover the public portion of the arena's construction costs.

The remaining $365.5 million tab will be picked up by, the property development arm of Mike and Marian Ilitch's $2 billion Detroit business empire, which includes the Red Wings,andpizza chain.

In addition to the arena, an additional $200 million is proposed to be spent on ancillary development, such as residential, retail and office space in a 35-acre district around the event center, according to the agreement for the project.

That money will be paid by the Ilitches or private developers they contract with for the project. The DDA will credit Olympia up to $62 million if it spends the $200 million five years after the arena opens, the agreement states.

DEGC President and CEO George Jackson said he hoped the approvals could be in place by the end of the year. Actual construction of the arena would take 24-30 months, so 2016 or 2017 are the likeliest years it would open.

Project backers have estimated that the arena construction will create 5,500 jobs and that the project will generate $1.8 billion in economic activity for the city, region and state. Sports economists often cast doubt on such predictions, noting that the spending typically replaces spending by consumers elsewhere in the market, known as the substitution effect.