Wayne State University in Detroit will hold a groundbreaking ceremony later this week on the site of the Mike Ilitch School of Business.
Construction of the facility became possible after a $40 million gift, the largest donation in the university’s history, from Mike and Marian Ilitch. Mike Ilitch is the founder of Little Caesar's Pizza and owner of the Detroit Tigers baseball team and the Detroit Red Wings hockey team.
The university says the new Ilitch School building will serve more than 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Plans call for a building of about 120,000 square feet over three-and-a-half floors.
Major structural elements of the building will include open collaboration space, student support facilities, a conference learning center, classrooms, lab space, and faculty offices.
The business school will offer a competitive entrepreneurship track with coursework in areas including sports and entertainment management.
The $40 million will include $35 million plus use of the land dedicated to the construction of the new facility and a $5 million endowment upon completion of construction. The new facility is expected to open in 2018.
