Slammer
11-19-2009, 04:45 AM
Pontiac stadium may sell for 1% of building cost
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m200/jenni25_bucket/winter3.jpg
A Canadian company plans to turn the Silverdome into a soccer arena.
Michigan's $55.7 million Silverdome arena may be sold -- for $583,000.
Frustrated taxpayers, who funded the stadium when it was built almost 35 years ago, will learn Monday whether the sale to an unidentified Canadian real-estate company will go through.
Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Edward Sosnick heard arguments today from an attorney representing Sliver Stallion Development, which had previously offered $20 million for the stadium and wants to block the sale.
But attorneys representing the city of Pontiac say the sale to the Canadian company is valid and should proceed. "It is absolutely in the interest of the city to sell this property for the greatest amount of money possible," said Ruben Acosta, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Pontiac put the Silverdome up for auction in October because of the $1.5 million in annual upkeep costs.
The Canadian company plans to refurbish the stadium for men's Major League Soccer and women's professional soccer teams, according to auctioneer Williams & Williams.
The 80,000-seat Silverdome was the biggest stadium in the National Football League when it was built in 1975. It was home to Super Bowl XVII in 1982, and it packed 93,000 people in 1987 for Wrestle Mania III. But the arena has not been used much since the Detroit Lions moved to Ford Field in 2002.
"The Silverdome will now be in the hands of professionals who can devote their time to transform this high-profile property into a vital asset instead of enabling it to continue to languish as an empty facility," said Fred Leeb, the emergency financial planner for Pontiac.
"The citizens of Pontiac deserve better," Councilman Everett Seay told The Detroit News. "This is pennies on the dollar (of its cost). It goes to show how bad times are. . . . Worse, we don't even know who bought it."
Michigan has been hit particularly hard during the economic downturn as two of the three U.S. automakers struggled through bankruptcy and manufacturing has weakened. Unemployment in the Detroit area hit 17.3%, up from 17% in August and 8.9% in September 2008.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m200/jenni25_bucket/winter3.jpg
A Canadian company plans to turn the Silverdome into a soccer arena.
Michigan's $55.7 million Silverdome arena may be sold -- for $583,000.
Frustrated taxpayers, who funded the stadium when it was built almost 35 years ago, will learn Monday whether the sale to an unidentified Canadian real-estate company will go through.
Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Edward Sosnick heard arguments today from an attorney representing Sliver Stallion Development, which had previously offered $20 million for the stadium and wants to block the sale.
But attorneys representing the city of Pontiac say the sale to the Canadian company is valid and should proceed. "It is absolutely in the interest of the city to sell this property for the greatest amount of money possible," said Ruben Acosta, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Pontiac put the Silverdome up for auction in October because of the $1.5 million in annual upkeep costs.
The Canadian company plans to refurbish the stadium for men's Major League Soccer and women's professional soccer teams, according to auctioneer Williams & Williams.
The 80,000-seat Silverdome was the biggest stadium in the National Football League when it was built in 1975. It was home to Super Bowl XVII in 1982, and it packed 93,000 people in 1987 for Wrestle Mania III. But the arena has not been used much since the Detroit Lions moved to Ford Field in 2002.
"The Silverdome will now be in the hands of professionals who can devote their time to transform this high-profile property into a vital asset instead of enabling it to continue to languish as an empty facility," said Fred Leeb, the emergency financial planner for Pontiac.
"The citizens of Pontiac deserve better," Councilman Everett Seay told The Detroit News. "This is pennies on the dollar (of its cost). It goes to show how bad times are. . . . Worse, we don't even know who bought it."
Michigan has been hit particularly hard during the economic downturn as two of the three U.S. automakers struggled through bankruptcy and manufacturing has weakened. Unemployment in the Detroit area hit 17.3%, up from 17% in August and 8.9% in September 2008.