Ilitch Family To Donate $40M for Business School Building at Wayne State University in Detroit

DETROIT — Detroit’s Ilitch family plans to donate money and land totaling $40 million for a new business school building for Wayne State University, according to Crain’s Detroit Business and the Detroit Free Press. It would be the largest donation in the school’s history. The donation reportedly includes $35 million to build the school and a $5 million endowment. The plan calls for construction of a single 120,000-square-foot, multi-story building of classrooms, offices and other spaces for the business school at the southwest corner of Woodward Avenue and Temple Street. The business school will be built on land the Ilitches have acquired for their District Detroit mixed-use development around the $532.5 million arena being built for the Detroit Red Wings, according to Crain’s. The arena is slated to open in time for the 2017 hockey season. The Ilitches are expected to retain ownership of the land and lease it to the business school for a nominal fee. Mike Ilitch is the owner of the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Tigers. He and his wife, Marian, co-founded Little Caesars Pizza in 1959.