The first three of 102 giant windows in the shape of pizza slices were installed Monday in the new Little Caesars headquarters building in downtown Detroit, which is set to open next summer.

Chris Ilitch, president and CEO of Ilitch Holdings, unveiled the initial window to a room of reporters and photographers. Each wedge is 14 feet tall, weighs nearly 1,000 pounds, and will form the nine-story building's transparent facade along Woodward Avenue.

“This facade will be the first of its kind in the world," Ilitch said, "constructed from 102 pieces of triangular, folded glass in the shape of a slice of pizza.

“Little Caesars was built on innovation, and true to this spirit, we are very excited to add this completely new and innovative piece of architecture to Detroit’s skyline.”

Construction began last year on the $150-million headquarters building, which will have 235,000 square feet of space and capacity for 700 office workers.

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The third-largest pizza chain in the world, Little Caesars is currently based in the Fox Theatre building, next door to its new office. The headquarters project is entirely financed privately by Little Caesars with no development incentives. The building's architect is Detroit-based SmithGroupJJR.

Little Caesars officials said that 99% of construction contracts so far for the headquarters were awarded to Michigan-based companies, and nearly 70% of them were awarded to Detroit-based firms.

However, the pizza-shaped windows were manufactured in Guadalajara, Mexico.

"There were no domestic suppliers — and no Michigan suppliers — of this type of glass," said Little Caesars President and CEO David Scrivano. "So we scoured the world and found the best supplier that there was."

The glass is being installed by Ypsilanti-based National Enclosure Co.and should be all in by mid-January.

To make an actual pizza slice the size of each window would require more than 100,000 dough balls, Scrivano told reporters.

"In fact, if you took all the glass around the building — if it was real pizza — it would be enough to feed all the people who have gone to every event at Little Caesars Arena so far this year, so over a quarter million people," he said.

Contact JC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JCReindl.