Revealed: Dazzling Renderings for Detroit's New Arena District

Detroit, we have a visual: The first renderings of the new Red Wings arena and surrounding development plans were revealed on Sunday, and it felt like the entire city responded with a collective gasp.
The new arena isn't just a newer arena, but a rethinking of what a professional sports venue should be. Perhaps even more stunning, however, is the scale of the surrounding development. Beyond the arena development itself, plans call for several new buildings downtown. The first phase of construction is expected to begin this fall, with the goal of finishing up by 2017. Let's dive in.

ARENA AREA ↑
1) Hotel: The arena development has always involved a hotel, and the Freep claims that a third-party developer "is looking to build one." This mysterious hotel would have 130-170 rooms.
2) Residential Lofts: These units are scheduled to begin construction alongside the arena this fall.
3) Red Wings Offices.
4) The Eddystone and Park Avenue Hotels: The fate of these abandoned buildings is still up in the air.
5) Smaller Residential: Initial plans call for smaller, studio-like residential units that would be more affordable than those next door.

DOWNTOWN ↑
1) Bleachers: This mid-rise building is labeled for office and ground-floor commercial use, but the highlight is a set of rooftop bleachers looking into Comerica Park.
2) New Residential: Two mid-rises totaling about 300 units are planned for the parking lots in front of Comerica Park. They're expected to come online in 2017.
3) Office Space: The parking lot between the Fox and Fillmore theaters will be consumed by an office building between 4 and 6 stories tall. Retail is planned for the ground floor.
?) The ghost of the Statler Hotel has inexplicably joined the rendering. It was demolished in 2005. Just below, the site of the Tuller Hotel hold a giant building that doesn't exist.

NEW ARENA ↑
· Its "deconstructed" design is unprecedented. The facility's shops and restaurants will be located on an "indoor street" connecting the stands and nearby buildings. Enclosed in glass, the street be open year-round.
· Seating capacity has been increased to 20,000+, matching that of Joe Louis Arena.
· Thanks to a high-tech lighting system, the rooftop image can be changed at will.
· Keeping things "human-scale," the playing surface will be sunk 32' into the ground.

The Olympia branding team has divvied up the official Arena District into 5 neighborhoods, each with its own theme (the given descriptions are in the photo captions above). Olympia will serve as the "master developer" for these areas, guiding development spurred by the new arena. Most of the immediate construction in places like Cass Park Plaza will be in the form of new infrastructure (streets, sidewalks, etc) and landscaping to lure outside developers.
· Olympia Dev. Press Page [Official]