Arena district construction update: Little Caesars HQ, arena seats, and more

While the Little Caesars Arena itself is the biggest construction project in the city right now, we’ve noticed the Little Caesars World Headquarters, just down Woodward at Columbia, rising rapidly these past few months.

To recap, this building will be a nine story, 234,000-square-foot office building with 14-foot glass “slices” on the facade facing Woodward. It will be open in 2018.

Olympia Development tells us that work on the steel structure has started on the 6th floor on the Woodward side of the building and the metal deck ( the base before concrete floors are poured) has been laid in a number of locations up to the 6th floor. Tarp covers much of the lower levels right now to keep newly applied fire proofing dry and to protect crews from wind.

Michelle & Chris Gerard

Within the arena itself, the concrete was poured recently for the main ice. As that cures, the seat installation has started. The seats were manufactured by Grand Rapids-based Irwin Seating. Big news hockey fans: these seats will have cupholders!

Moving further down Woodward, a webcam is now set up to watch the progress at the Mike Ilitch School of Business, which is on the corner of Woodward and Temple. Ground broke last summer on the project, and classes should start there in 2018.