The Detroit City Council has agreed to give a holdout creditor from the city's chapter 9 bankruptcy another 18 months to submit a redevelopment plan for the vacated Joe Louis Arena property, Crain's Detroit Business reported. Gotham Motown Recovery LLC now has until January 2020 for the plan; under terms of the settlement forged in bankruptcy court in 2014, it had until Nov. 21, 2017, to submit it. Gotham Motown sued the city in February for more time. The entity said it had requested a 24-month extension on July 20, 2017, but the city agreed to just a 180-day extension, even though the settlement approved in bankruptcy court allows for a two-year extension. In April, Gotham Motown asked Hon. Thomas Tucker to appoint a mediator to resolve the dispute. Law Offices of Barry L. Howard PC in Bloomfield Hills was appointed as mediator the following month, and after two mediation sessions on June 8 and July 16, a settlement was reached. Mayor Mike Duggan has to sign off on the settlement, which does not include any monetary damages. The complex nature of the 9-acre site and the city's changing real estate market have made it difficult to submit a redevelopment proposal, Gotham argues. One city official has called what surrounds the arena "an absolutely wicked entanglement of infrastructure" that makes redevelopment difficult.
