A long-vacant piece of Detroit’s east riverfront is finally moving closer to redevelopment.
The city’s Brownfield Redevelopment Authority has received a unanimous recommendation from its Community Advisory Committee to move forward with a plan to build a large sports complex on the former Uniroyal Tire site, just west of the bridge to Belle Isle.
The plan would transform the 42-acre site into a new sports campus. The development would include a 75,000-square-foot practice facility and headquarters for Detroit’s future WNBA team, plus a 100,000-square-foot youth sports complex and multiple indoor and outdoor athletic fields.
The project is expected to create more than 70 permanent jobs and nearly 300 construction jobs during the building phase.
Before construction can begin, crews will have to clean up what was left behind from the old tire plant that closed in 1980.
If everything stays on schedule, site cleanup and preparation will start in 2026, followed by construction in 2027. The new WNBA team is expected to make its debut in 2029.
Once complete, the project would replace one of Detroit’s longest-vacant industrial sites with a modern sports hub for both professionals and local youth.
