Red Wings arena construction could start soon

John Gallagher | USA TODAY Sports

With winter passing and warm weather returning, construction work is to begin soon on Detroit's new arena complex on the northern edge of downtown.

In recent days, earthmoving equipment has turned up on the site in preparation for the work.

Doug Kuiper, a spokesman for Ilitch Holdings, the Ilitch family's umbrella entity for its many operations, said the start of construction could begin "in the next several weeks."

Besides weather and logistical challenges, the Ilitch project must also settle final zoning approvals for the site.

In a statement, Ilitch Holidings said it looked forward to getting started "so we can bring 8,300 construction and construction-related jobs online and begin to hire Detroiters and others -- as well as local, regional and state companies -- to build this transformative project."

The $450 million stadium is expected to be finished and ready for the Red Wings' season opener in late 2017.

State officials say financing for Detroit's new hockey arena is in no danger from an item in President Obama's budget that would deny tax-exempt bonding to future sport facilities.

Obama included an obscure item in his most recent budget proposal that would bar the use of government-issued tax-exempt bonds to finance professional sports arenas. USA TODAY reported that the long-standing use of such taxpayer-financed, tax-exempt bonds costs the U.S. Treasury $146 million, according to a 2012 Bloomberg analysis.

But Michigan officials say the tax-exempt bonds that are paying for Detroit's new arena project, the future home of the Ilitch family's Detroit Red Wings, are too far along in in the pipeline to be affected by the Obama proposal.

"There would be no impact on the Red Wings arena project from this proposal. The arena project bonds have already been sold," said Mark Morante, senior vice president of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and fund manager for the Michigan Strategic Fund, the state entity that issued the arena bonds.

"The funds at issue are now pledged to bonds and are subject to statutory lien at the (Detroit Downtown Development Authority) and MSF level," he added.

If attempts were made to apply such a ban retroactively, the state could possibly go to court over what Morante called "the broad constitutional issue of impairment of contracts."

John Gallagher writes for the Detroit Free Press

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