Beginning of the end? Or a new beginning? [[Pontiac Silverdome)

[Johnnny5]

The owners of the Silverdome have deflated the roof "In preparation for renovations". Call me a cynic, but I don't believe this anymore than the faded "Closed for renovations" signs that I've seen in other abandoned buildings.

Does anyone think that renovations will actually take place? Or is this just the owners way of preserving cash while ducking out on a failed investment?


http://www.theoaklandpress.com/artic...txt?viewmode=4

http://www.freep.com/article/2013010...066/1001/rss01

[Brich]

This is the same group that bought the Penobcot Building last year. It would suck if this was being done because they can't afford to keep it inflated.

[Bham1982]

This is the same group that bought the Penobcot Building last year. It would suck if this was being done because they can't afford to keep it inflated.

Knock this sucker down. Not needed, and worth more vacant.

It sold for less than a nice colonial in a good suburb.

[Richard]

This is the same group that bought the Penobcot Building last year. It would suck if this was being done because they can't afford to keep it inflated.

They were backing the new casino push about the time they did an about face on the bank demo to make a parking lot,they had said they wanted to make the silverdome a casino,I wonder if that's why they wanted the parking aspect with the "Penobcot" if it would have been also a casino. Mr. Duggan is still on the casino board?

[Johnnny5]

Looks like the new owners may have been being less than truthful after all.

"The deflation of the Silverdome’s roof might not have been a planned event, Pontiac’s building director said Friday.

“I was told there was a small tear that kept the fans from being able to keep up with the air necessary to keep the roof inflated,” said Pontiac Building Director Jeff Bowdell, of the firm Wade Trim, the city’s contractor for building department services.

Bowdell heard that the roof had come down and went to the Silverdome on Thursday afternoon to perform an inspection, he said.

“If it was allowed to fill with ice and snow, the weight would rip every panel in the roof,” Bowdell said of the deflated roof, which he said is still about 75 feet above the arena floor at its lowest point."

http://theoaklandpress.com/articles/...d994015573.txt

[Danny]

Right now the silverdome is useless! it's a another national team to fill up that arena. Bring in another WNBA team.

[MommaDrizzly]

Blow it up, build a shopping mall or subdivision on it. It's not useful, ugly and not really historic.

[rb336]

I thought they were planning on putting a floor over the lower deck area and creating an open-air soccer stadium for an MLS team with an arena and theater underneath

http://www.mlive.com/soccer/index.ss...york_city.html

[Bham1982]

Blow it up, build a shopping mall or subdivision on it. It's not useful, ugly and not really historic.

Though it's Pontiac schools and city services, so no chance of a subdivision, and retail in the area is horribly overbuilt.

I would say tear it down and sit on it, until market conditions improve. Then maybe warehouse or self-storage space.

[MommaDrizzly]

Hantz Farm II

[Shollin]

Whatever happened to converting it into a soccer field and convention center?

[Gistok]

Whatever happened to converting it into a soccer field and convention center?

I saw rb336's link to the double deck use for the Silverdome.... but in order to support a sodded Soccer field on top... there would have to be an awful lot of support beams holding it up.... or has cantilevering gotten so state of the art that it can be all held up from the back of the lower bowl [[as well as thru the middle separating the arena from theatre area)??

Whatever... double decking the Silverdome sounds very expensive...