Silverdome Sold for $583,000....

**Grundyke** · November-16-09, 06:52 PM

I forgot to mention in my previous post that I like soccer. Sorry people but if you get into like I did in south Texas it is quite addicting. I know I'll be tarred and feathered for this but I prefer it to hockey now [[and I loved hockey as a kid).

dfunkycity · November-16-09, 07:08 PM

Originally Posted by crawford

You probably couldn't buy the MSG site for a billion in cash, but it has nothing to do with the arena.

It's so valuable because it's located on a site with well over six million square feet of developable real estate, and sits on top of the busiest rail hub outside of Japan.

MSG will eventually be torn down and replaced with office towers sitting atop a huge mixed-use complex and new Penn Station.

I know. Just being facetious.

**softailrider** · November-16-09, 08:02 PM

It would make one great casino location.

Sludgedaddy · November-16-09, 08:32 PM

So....it is rumored that a Canadian firm has purchased the Pontiac Plastic Dome...In hushed rumors, I also hear the Canucks plan to turn the place into a combination Mr. Dress-Up--Friendly Giant Museum....for those of you who like to rock!

**yupislyr** · November-16-09, 10:59 PM

It IS a Canadian company out of Toronto and they do indeed want to use it for soccer.

http://freep.com/article/20091116/NE...for-Silverdome

**Searay215** · November-16-09, 11:11 PM

Originally Posted by Grundyke

I forgot to mention in my previous post that I like soccer. Sorry people but if you get into like I did in south Texas it is quite addicting. I know I'll be tarred and feathered for this but I prefer it to hockey now [[and I loved hockey as a kid).

And now I will now predict the score of almost ANY soccer game......1 to 0 How addicting can that be? Really?

**reddog289** · November-17-09, 01:38 AM

I was gonna say bring back the Detroit Express, and that for another 450k I could have got a really big garage.

**Gsgeorge** · November-17-09, 04:19 AM

Oh my god. For that price, if I had a house in Bloomfield Hills I'd sell it and move into the Silverdome. Imagine having the largest bedroom EVER. And I would love to see your friends' reactions when you tell them you live in a former football stadium. The ultimate Detroit loft.

**luckycar** · November-17-09, 07:32 AM

Its done.Good now we,Pontiac,can move on.As for the low low discount price,it's better than a sharp stick in the eye.The fools on the Pontiac Clownsil will be looking to go to court,or spend money they don't have on some other way to kill this deal.They still talk about the "lost 20 million" they would have got from the last developer with no cash,no backing,no financing.It would have been another Bloonfield Park fiasco.

**davewindsor** · November-17-09, 07:43 AM

Originally Posted by Gsgeorge

Oh my god. For that price, if I had a house in Bloomfield Hills I'd sell it and move into the Silverdome. Imagine having the largest bedroom EVER. And I would love to see your friends' reactions when you tell them you live in a former football stadium. The ultimate Detroit loft.

Yeah, and don't forget to watch your friends' reactions when you show them your $10 million a year property tax bill for something you paid $583,000 for.

**DetroitPlanner** · November-17-09, 08:01 AM

Originally Posted by davewindsor

Yeah, and don't forget to watch your friends' reactions when you show them your $10 million a year property tax bill for something you paid $583,000 for.

Not to mention the heating lighting and maintenance bills. Eventually you would want to do some landscaping how much would it cost ro rip out all of that parking and put in grass and trees? Forget ornemental bushes or flowers! Heck how much time would you need to mow the lawn then?

Stosh · November-17-09, 08:53 AM

Screw soccer. I'd sooner see a CFL team come in. At least that would be entertaining. Or they can do both.

**barnesfoto** · November-17-09, 09:10 AM

world's largest dollar store?

Bearinabox · November-17-09, 09:48 AM

Originally Posted by barnesfoto

world's largest dollar store?

Russell Bazaar North.

**Catman** · November-17-09, 09:55 AM

Geez, how soon you guys forget the sold-out Wrestlemanias? All they need to do is have weekly pro wrestling mega-matches and throw in the roller-derby girls and 80,000 dum-dums will show up each week!

At other times they can provide training sessions for 80,000 people on "How to Rip Copper Off of Skyscraper Roofs", "How to Hustle Shiny Things to Gullible People", and "How to Tell If People You Are Trying to Hustle Shiny Things Off of Have Attended the Previous Course." [[because the gullible people got wise and left town)

**iheartthed** · November-17-09, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by luckycar

Its done.Good now we,Pontiac,can move on.As for the low low discount price,it's better than a sharp stick in the eye.The fools on the Pontiac Clownsil will be looking to go to court,or spend money they don't have on some other way to kill this deal.They still talk about the "lost 20 million" they would have got from the last developer with no cash,no backing,no financing.It would have been another Bloonfield Park fiasco.

My money is on you all staring at an empty Silverdome for another five years.

**Bong-Man** · November-17-09, 10:19 AM

The only reason Ford Field was built was for control of parking revenue and concessions. Considering how the local economy has played out, I bet Bill Ford wishes he would have never built the monstrosity that holds his family name. Now that the thrill of hosting a Super Bowl and a Final 4 are over, it is nothing more than a big white elephant, and will continue to be a constant drain on his personal finances. 10 lousy football games and a couple of concerts [[maybe) will never keep up with the overhead. It should be renamed Edsel Ford Field.

**iheartthed** · November-17-09, 10:21 AM

Originally Posted by Bong-Man

The only reason Ford Field was built was for control of parking revenue and concessions. Considering how the local economy has played out, I bet Bill Ford wishes he would have never built the monstrosity that holds his family name. Now that the thrill of hosting a Super Bowl and a Final 4 are over, it is nothing more than a big white elephant, and will continue to be a constant drain on his personal finances. 10 lousy football games and a couple of concerts [[maybe) will never keep up with the overhead. It should be renamed Edsel Ford Field.

I see why they call you Bong-Man.

**KENSINGTONY** · November-17-09, 10:44 AM

Hmm,maybe the new owners will let us use the parking lot for autocrossing for free[[or dirt cheap).The city used to charge an exorbitant fee for it's use-something like $1500 per event.Waaaayyy divorced from reality.

**GPCharles** · November-17-09, 10:45 AM

$583,000 might seem like a low number, but note - it was the high bid. The Silverdome is a white elephant that is expensive to upkeep. Yes the land might be cheap, but that is very debatable given [[i) the cost to demo the dome and [[ii) the current prices for real estate in Detroit Metro.

As to the property tax bill, it was municipally owned, so presumably it doesn't currently pay property taxes and it won't until assessed. The clearest indication of its value is the auction price, so figure the taxes on $583,000. The big kicker for the new owner is the cost to maintain and operate. If the purchaser doesn't have or can't operationally fund those costs, the place could end up as more of an eyesore that it is now.

**artds** · November-17-09, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by urbanoutdoors

I am surprised it is so low... You cannot buy 127 acres up north for that cheap let alone a 80000 seat stadium to boot...

You're not factoring in the liabilities assocaited with the property.

A hundred or so acres up north don't cost you million of dollars each year in maintenance, nor do they require tens of millions in demolition costs to turn them into undeveloped land.

**Grundyke** · November-17-09, 11:12 AM

Originally Posted by Searay215

And now I will now predict the score of almost ANY soccer game......1 to 0 How addicting can that be? Really?

Hey, it was just my opinion! The fact that it should sell this time and it is not draining 1.5 million from the city a year is a positive.

**Grundyke** · November-17-09, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by Bong-Man

The only reason Ford Field was built was for control of parking revenue and concessions. Considering how the local economy has played out, I bet Bill Ford wishes he would have never built the monstrosity that holds his family name. Now that the thrill of hosting a Super Bowl and a Final 4 are over, it is nothing more than a big white elephant, and will continue to be a constant drain on his personal finances. 10 lousy football games and a couple of concerts [[maybe) will never keep up with the overhead. It should be renamed Edsel Ford Field.

Exactly! And he could have had to Dome for 6 or 7 million at the time which would have gave him the parking and the concessions [[not to mention twice the capacity).

**Grundyke** · November-17-09, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by GPCharles

$583,000 might seem like a low number, but note - it was the high bid. The Silverdome is a white elephant that is expensive to upkeep. Yes the land might be cheap, but that is very debatable given [[i) the cost to demo the dome and [[ii) the current prices for real estate in Detroit Metro.

As to the property tax bill, it was municipally owned, so presumably it doesn't currently pay property taxes and it won't until assessed. The clearest indication of its value is the auction price, so figure the taxes on $583,000. The big kicker for the new owner is the cost to maintain and operate. If the purchaser doesn't have or can't operationally fund those costs, the place could end up as more of an eyesore that it is now.

It will be taxed at $583,000 and at current rates it costs 1.5 million a year in upkeep and maintenance.

**iheartthed** · November-17-09, 12:23 PM

Originally Posted by artds

You're not factoring in the liabilities assocaited with the property.

A hundred or so acres up north don't cost you million of dollars each year in maintenance, nor do they require tens of millions in demolition costs to turn them into undeveloped land.

Uh... You all are way overplaying how much the cost of demolition factored into this transaction. If the property was actually worth say... $10M, and cost of demolition was $5M, then the property would still fetch bids well above $583,000. But the buyer apparently doesn't even plan to demolish it. So all the talk about cost of demolition is moot.

[[And I doubt that it would cost $5M to demolish this property... A quick Google search says that it cost about $7M to demo the Hudson's building downtown. I'm no civil engineer, but the Hudson's building seems like it was a much more complicated demolition than the Silverdome would be -- considering that the Hudson's building needed asbestos removal and was located in a far more densely built area than the Silverdome.)

The bottom line is that the city of Pontiac just sold the Silverdome for a fraction of what it cost them to build it nearly 40 years ago [[whether you use 2009 inflation dollars or 1973 dollars). The Silverdome was just sold for less than the cost of a Ferrari.

Wikipedia says that the stadium costs $55.7M to build in 1973. In terms of raw dollars, it means that the Silverdome just sold for roughly 1% of what it cost them to build it. That's a 99% loss in raw dollars. The news gets substantially worse if you factor in inflation. You see, $55.7M in 1975 [[the year the stadium opened) is roughly $220.5M in 2008 dollars. So the inflation adjusted loss is... effectively 100%. Just factoring in cost of the property alone, the city of Pontiac lost virtually its total investment into the property.

By any sane measurement, the city of Pontiac is not better off for having been home to the Lions for 25 years. The city is no more wealthy than it was in the mid-70s. Real estate is obviously not much more attractive than it was back in the 1970s.