At the corner of Woodward and Temple, construction on the newest addition to Wayne State University is well underway.
The Mike Ilitch School of Business is ten percent complete and is on pace for an April 2018 grand opening.
"We really view ourselves as Detroit's business school,” said Bob Forsythe, dean of the newly named school.
The school will serve more than 3,500 students once complete, and will move their current school of business administration downtown.
"This will bring us much, much closer to the community. There will be places where our students can even walk to their internships.” Forsyth says the excitement around their new name and facility, has already drummed up new enrollment.
"Once you have a named business school you start to become a brand."
The building will also house new programs in entrepreneurship, innovation and sport and entertainment management. It will include open collaboration space, student support facilities, classrooms, labs and offices.
The joint-venture construction team of Christman-Brinker says the materials are coming from the Great Lake State, and the labor is coming from the Motor City.
"It will have a phenomenal glass facade. As you enter down Woodward the students will be able to have view points from inside the school out to Woodward,” said Larry Brinker Jr., President of Christman-Brinker.
Acting as the gateway into the new District Detroit neighborhood, the university says they're already talking about expansion plans, as the city continues to come back.
"We think we can make a big difference to the revitalization of the city,” said Forsythe.
Construction is supposed to be complete in time for the school's 2018 spring semester, which begins in May.
