The former home of the Detroit Lions, the Pontiac Silverdome, is once again being put on the market. Once a mighty stadium, the Silverdome is currently roofless after powerful winds shredded what was left of the beautiful construction.
According to listing brokers, the asking price is approximately $25-$30 million, as compared to the stadium’s $583,000 price six years ago when it was purchased by Triple Investment Group.
CBRE is brokering the sale or the lease for the property.
That initial acquisition by the Canadian company should have involved efforts of revitalizing the site, or so Triple Investment Group said at the time. But the stadium is just as run down as before. CBRE Inc. VP of Retail Services, Robert Mihelich, explains that the property is now being marketed as a “mixed-use play”.
The 127.5-acre property has received a lot of interest, Mihelich said, especially from large industrial users. Though undesirable, the most likely scenario is that the stadium will be taken down by its future buyer.
“Most want to take the dome down and just utilize the property,” Mihelich said.
After having cost $55.7 million to build (back in 1975), the prospect of razing the Silverdrome for redevelopment isn’t as bright as one may hope. Sadly, the stadium has slowly fallen into disrepair. After a 2013 winter storm tore down the stadium’s roof, owners decided to auction a large portion of the stadium’s items in 2014.
Its field and seats now lie strewn with debris and earlier this week, Tyler Fernegal, a BMX biker, became the last ever athlete to perform inside the once iconic stadium.
Of course, the 2009 sale to the Canadian Company is viewed as the worst case scenario for this Oakland County property. Rushing into a deal without proper development agreements to ensure that the buyer returns the project to productive use may have been what sealed the stadium’s fate.
The stadium was considered one of the most strategic parcels in the region.
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