DETROIT - Crews working on the $627 million Detroit Events Center in Detroit might be thankful for the unseasonably warm weather.

To date, half of the foundation concrete has been poured at the site, and over 900 pieces of structural steel has been placed since October, according to Olympia Development of Michigan.

This week, two major sponsors were announced for the area, which is scheduled to open by the start of the 2017 NHL season.

The massive Cass Corridor project keeps growing. The price tag was $450 million with an additional $200 million of development around the arena. The cost of the Events Center has ballooned, with additional private funding pouring in.

In November, Olympia President and CEO said there would be a player walkthrough area, much like that seen in modern NFL stadiums, for fans. He also said the massive 785,000-square-foot facility will house the entire Wings practice facility; that includes an ice rink, locker rooms, a track and training facilities. The new locker room is three times bigger than that at Joe Louis Arena.

The 20,000-seat facility will have "gondola" seating, a public plaza with a big video wall, practice and amateur hockey arenas and "additional video and sound capabilities. The additions will add an additional $95 million to the arena cost, according to the company.

The arena will sit on a plot of land along Woodward Avenue just north of downtown Detroit. Retail, restaurants, offices, living space, parking garages and a park will all be pieced into the current planned development zone.

According to the District Detroit website, the planned neighborhoods will all back up to a major property affiliated with the Ilitch family. "Columbia Street" encompasses The Fox and the future site of the Little Caesar's headquarters; "Columbia Park" sits behind that, covering the Cass Avenue approach to the back of the future arena site; "Woodward Square" holds the arena development; "Wildcat Corner" ropes in Comerica Park and the site of future apartments planned for the parking lots that touch Woodward Avenue.

And it's "Cass Park Village" -- currently known as a part of Cass Corridor, and part of which has already been redubbed as "Midtown" -- that the most recent reports of land buys circle around.

The Village would connect the arena district to MotorCity Casino, which looks over The Lodge at some new housing, but a lot of vacant land.

The $650 million development is to be funded with a mix of $365.5 million in private investment and an estimated public investment of $284.5 million.

Ian Thibodeau is the business and development reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. He can be reached at ithibode@mlive.com, or follow him on Twitter.