$200 million in 3 days: How Detroit has prepared for the financial windfall of this week’s NFL Draft

With an expected 300,000 visitors descending on the city, some wonder if Detroit is ready to handle this onslaught of attention. But city officials insist the city is more than prepared.

The din of construction greets visitors to Woodward Avenue, Detroit’s main thoroughfare. The brand-new Hudson’s Tower, now officially the city’s second-tallest building, reached its top height of 681 feet on April 11. New sidewalks are being poured. Orange cones and barrels are sprinkled across Campus Martius, the nexus of roads and businesses in the heart of downtown, as massive steel trusses are erected in that park and in Hart Plaza, a quarter mile down Woodward on the Detroit River.