DETROIT (WXYZ) — Construction on a $125 million expansion for Huntington Place convention center in Downtown Detroit is expected to begin in the next month.
Visit Detroit CEO Claude Molinari confirmed to 7 News Detroit that the construction will add around 20,000 square feet, plus a pedestrian bridge that will connect to the five-star JW Marriott hotel that is set to open on the former Joe Louis Arena site.
Hear from Molinari in the video below
The Sterling Group, which is the developer behind the JW Marriott project, said the hotel will have 600 rooms, meeting space and be 25 stories tall. Construction on the hotel is set to be complete in early 2027, just before the Final Four in Detroit.
According to Molinari, the pedestrian bridge connection is set to be in place by the end of 2026, just before the hotel opens.
The expansion will also open up access to the Detroit Riverfront and transform a once-blocked area into a pedestrian-friendly destination.
"Everything we are doing is focused on the hotel has to be ready for the Final Four which is the end of March of 2027," Molinari said in an interview with our Carolyn Clifford. "We promised the NCAA that it will be ready for them and that's why they chose Detroit, so we're going to make sure...we have every intention of meeting that deadline."
It's the latest hotel project coming to the City of Detroit. EDITION, a five-star hotel, is set to open inside the 45-story Hudson's Detroit building in the coming years.
See renderings of the expansion below
