The Little Caesars Arena in Detroit will open with a temporary certificate of occupancy in time for the Kid Rock concert Sept. 12.
Construction workers have been working nights and weekends on the $863 million arena, finishing up last-minute projects, including laying pavement outside the southeast entrance, the Detroit Free Press reported.
According to Chris Granger, president of Ilitch Holdings, a company part of the arena's construction, the building is 98 percent complete, and finishing construction on an arena as it opens is typical.
"You're working on the building up to and beyond the opening," Granger said. "We could do a full show right now with no problem whatsoever."
David Bell, director of Detroit's Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department, said in an email that owner's suites, utility spaces and other unoccupied areas were still being completed, and construction materials and fencing still needed to be removed from the site, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Detroit's Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department issued temporary occupancy certificates for both the arena and its parking garage. Bell said the department requires that "one hundred percent of the life-safety items are in compliance with the building codes" for them to issue a certificate.
Although there is no set completion date, one union official said there has been a push to finish the arena since the Detroit Pistons have found a home there, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Mike Jackson, executive secretary-treasurer of the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights said, "I know they're running three shifts [of workers]. A construction project that size is going to have changes along the way."
