Photos: Inside the Mike Ilitch School of Business

The second major building in the District Detroit is opening, as Wayne State University and Olympia Development celebrate the completion of the Mike Ilitch School of Business. Faculty and staff started moving in earlier this summer, and classes begin August 29 at the building that overlooks downtown Detroit.

Media were invited for a tour of the new building, which was funded in large part from a $40 million gift from Mike and Marian Ilitch.

A finance lab sits just inside the front entrance, with Bloomberg terminals and soon, a ticker tape around the perimeter. To the left, an Avalon Bakery outpost will open. Throughout the building, WSU has placed “sticky spaces,” green and brown coves with benches, where they hope students will “stick around” between classes.

The building has classrooms on the outside perimeter facing Woodward and Temple. Many students take night classes, so the building will be lit up at night. One of the classrooms on the third floor has stellar views of downtown and Brush Park.

Offices line the interior of the building, facing a courtyard next to what will be a Sports Medicine Institute through Olympia and the Detroit Medical Center. Faculty and students should have a front row view of the new construction, and also a view of the Hotel Eddystone which stands in between a nearly-finished parking garage and the arena.

Next to the courtyard on the main level, two classrooms have glass garage-like doors that can be opened to accommodate larger events, which will be handy since they’re located near Lear Auditorium.

The building is intended to be very student-oriented, with different types of classrooms, public spaces, murals in the stairwells, and dedicated meeting spaces for student organizations. Wayne State’s Business School has also launched a Sport and Entertainment Management program; students will study in close proximity of three sports arenas and a variety of music venues.

The standout space in the school is the fourth-floor terrace, which overlooks Brush Park and downtown Detroit.

Here’s a look around the new business school in the arena district.