But this is where this kind of entertainment belongs, and it helps make sure a city center is thriving and inviting.” “People really weren't coming downtown, so it was important to put that stake down to say, ‘Look, if you want to see this entertainment, you've got to come here.’ It would have been much easier to just bring things up to the suburbs.
Ilitch was very interested in the entertainment world and how it could be a factor in helping revitalization,” said David DiChiera, founding general director of Michigan Opera Theatre. Their investment was a show of confidence in Detroit, helping coax skittish suburbanites to visit and paving the way for other developers to commit. There were few full-time entertainment destinations downtown when the billionaire and his wife, Marian Ilitch, set their eyes on the Fox. “He's done more for the city than anyone up to this day.” “He was a true visionary, just as great a Detroiter as we've ever had,” said Franks. Ilitch's $7-million rehabilitation of the Fox in 1988 didn’t just restore the grand old venue’s opulence - it kick-started a stretch of downtown now teeming with concerts, shows and other nightlife attractions, busy enough that detailed traffic advisories are regularly issued for incoming audiences. Ilitch taking a shot when nobody else would, none of this would be where it is today.
“He was the catalyst for all of it,” said Rick Franks, Live Nation’s head of national touring and a longtime Michigan concert promoter. The sports teams and pizza empire may be at the top of the bio, but Ilitch’s contribution to Detroit entertainment was just as vital to the billionaire who died Friday at 87. That wasn’t the case when Mike Ilitch took a gamble on the Fox three decades ago, before he breathed life into a moribund district and helped spark a dynamic entertainment scene that now draws millions of people downtown annually. It’s an eye-catching sight for nighttime travelers on I-75: the bold, colorful lights of the Fox Theatre providing a splash of pizzazz against the Detroit skyline.
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