House fire near Little Caesars Arena in Detroit raises eyebrows - Axios DetroitLog InLog InAxios Detroit is an Axios company.

House fire near LCA raises eyebrows

What's left of the holdout house on Cass Avenue behind Little Casars Arena. Photo: Sam Robinson/Axios The last remaining residential property near Little Caesars Arena has been destroyed by a fire. Why it matters: The area where the property resides was mostly bought out by the Ilitch family prior to the construction of the more than $860 million arena.The owner of the house that turned to rubble Monday morning before dawn is one of the final holdouts not to sell. The intrigue: The house is still for sale, real estate agent Darren Johnson, whose name was listed on the home for years, tells Axios. The woman who owns the property acquired a different agent and listed it for $2.5 million, he said.It had been previously listed at $4.9 million as recently as 2018, the reports.The house had been due for demolition and was being sold as vacant land. "It will still be sold as vacant land listed at $2.5 million," the owner of the company now selling the property told the Free Press. What they're saying: Longtime residents don't think the fire was an accident."I don't think anybody in their right mind would just say, 'I don't like this house, I'ma burn it down,'" Uraina Fisher, who lives a few blocks away from the house, tells Axios. "The Ilitches have been bothering them a long time for this property.""There were about 30 firefighters in the street. About eight trucks, and only one truck was dousing it with water — the rest of them were just standing out there," Fisher said.Detroit Fire Department officials declined to comment at yesterday's scene and could not be reached over the phone. Sam's thought bubble: Edmoun Spears, a neighbor and one of the people I spoke to yesterday, said he'd been inside the house as a kid and grew an appreciation for the owner's reluctance to sell it. To Spears and his neighbors, the house represented the local resistance against the Ilitches' District Detroit. Get more local stories in your inbox with .Subscribe Support local journalism by becoming a member.

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