Duggan Announces Plans for Sports Complex on Former Uniroyal Site Along Detroit Riverfront
During his last State of the City address on Tuesday, March 25, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said a new community recreation facility is being planned for the Detroit Riverfront.
Located at the former Uniroyal site, the development will feature an outdoor complex for flag football, lacrosse, and soccer, plus an indoor youth sports academy for basketball, dance, and volleyball.
Duggan stated that an investor group led by Arn Tellem and Tom Gores, along with Sheila (Ford) Hamp and Steve Hamp, is behind the recreational facility project. This investor group is also courting a bid to bring a WNBA team to Detroit. No official statements have been made related to the use of the facility as a potential location if Detroit is awarded a WNBA franchise.
“I’ve been focusing for 12 years on what I think is the greatest legacy gift we can give our children, and that’s return the Detroit Riverfront to the public,” Duggan said in a statement shared by 7 News WXYZ-TV Detroit. “Twelve years ago, the city had planned to build public condos on the best riverfront property next to Milliken Park. And my first month in office, I took that condo plan, and I scrapped it and pushed it back to open up the riverfront to the people of this community.”
In concluding his remarks on the topic, Duggan recognized the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy for taking steps to reimagine what the Detroit Riverfront could be for the good of the community.
“They did a good job, and they hit a goal of renovating from bridge to bridge,” he said. “But I wanted to go beyond that. I wanted to make the riverfront available from border to border — I want to go to the far southwest and the far east where they think they’ve been forgotten.”
