By Tom Walsh and John Gallagher, Detroit Free Press

A quarter century after moving its corporate hub from the suburbs to the Fox Theatre building in downtown Detroit, the Ilitch family is unveiling plans today for a new 8-story office tower next door, more than doubling the size of the Little Caesars pizza headquarters campus.

Company executives, including founders Mike and Marian Ilitch, shared the news with employees in a theatrical presentation this morning in the Fox Theatre and lobby.

Along with a new arena for the Ilitch-owned Detroit Red Wings hockey team, the new 205,000-square-foot Little Caesars structure will be one of 14 new buildings in the Ilitches' expansive $650-million arena district development, which aims to transform dozens of underutilized blocks between downtown and Midtown into a world-class sports and entertainment district.

The Ilitch projects stand as a core pillar of downtown's continued revitalization.

"We're very hopeful that this new investment is a catalyst for others to look at Detroit. It's our home, but it's also a great place for us to do business," Chris Ilitch, CEO of Ilitch Holdings, said in an exclusive interview Tuesday with the Free Press. "This is exactly what Mike and Marian Ilitch have envisioned for a very long time."

Dave Scrivano, Little Caesars president, said the new building will create space for 600 more high-skill employees over the next decade, many of whom will also live and play in the city core. "I've had so many colleagues say to me, 'I want to live here. I'm moving to the district.' I can envision in several years 20, 30, 40 percent of our people living in the district," Scrivano said.

The new Little Caesars tower on Woodward Avenue and across from Comerica Park will be Detroit's first new corporate headquarters building in more than a decade: The Compuware building was finished in 2003 and the American Axle and Manufacturing headquarters at I-75 and Holbrook Avenue was erected in 2004.

The new tower, slated to be completed by December 2016, will be smaller than the Fox Office Center building, which houses both the iconic Fox Theatre and 186,000 square feet of office space for Little Caesars and other Ilitch-affiliated ventures. The two buildings will be the same height, but the new tower will be just eight stories — versus 10 for the Fox — because it will have higher ceilings.

"We are bursting at the seams," Scrivano, president of Little Caesars, said of the pizza firm's current cramped and scattered quarters. With no room to expand in the old Fox building, for example, Scrivano put a new pizza innovation center and test kitchen inside Comerica Park a few years ago.

"We've had people in temporary space at our sister companies, some people are working out of their homes, we keep doing meetings out by the airport," Scrivano added, noting that the new building will solve those problems and provide room for future growth.

Growing pizza company

The privately owned Ilitch companies have long been secretive about their financial numbers, but they don't dispute food industry trade magazine estimates that rank Little Caesars third in total pizza sales behind Pizza Hut and Domino's — and it's been widely reported that the success of its Hot-N-Ready products have spurred a growth boom for Little Caesars in recent years. Scrivano said the firm, which has stores in all 50 states and 17 foreign markets, has been opening more than 100 stores annually in recent years.

Ilitch-owned companies, which include the Red Wings, Detroit Tigers, MotorCity Casino and hotel, plus other retail and entertainment venues, employ 7,300 people in Detroit. Little Caesars is the largest of the companies.

The Little Caesars Global Resource Center and headquarters campus will be part of the Columbia Street neighborhood, one of five walkable, livable mixed-use neighborhoods targeted for special treatment in the arena district, with a goal of connecting existing and new development efforts in downtown and Midtown Detroit along Woodward.

"We're very pleased to continue to invest in our community and very hopeful that this is a catalyst for others to look at Detroit," Chris Ilitch said.

"We want to make sure," he added, "that everything we do in the district follows our brand promise of 'Come out and be amazed.' Columbia Street will be an amazing street and retail offering."

Contact Tom Walsh: 313-223-4430 or twalsh@freepress.com, also follow him on Twitter @TomWalsh_freep.

Little Caesars' new headquarters

Details of the project, slated for completion in December 2016, include:

■An overhead bridge and walkway over Columbia Street, connecting the Fox with the new Little Caesars Global Resource Center

■Space for 600 additional high-skill jobs to be brought to Detroit in the next decade

■A flagship Little Caesars Pizza storefront on Woodward Avenue

■A Columbia Street neighborhood to be activated with retail and green space

■Innovation kitchens

■An auditorium, meeting rooms and child care facility

■Training facilities for franchisees, crew and employees