Sports arenas are the newest sector of real estate going for cheap!
The Pontiac Silverdome, located in Pontiac (duh) Michigan, just outside of Detroit, has sold for a cool $ 583,000. Discount doesn’t do the sale price justice – that’s a sports arena for the cost of 2 medium range homes. With that great a deal, mortgage loan modification probably won’t be needed. The winning bidder was a real estate firm from Canada, based in Toronto, but the name hasn’t been released yet. They had the best bid, but the sale hasn’t been entirely finalized. According to an article from the Detroit Free Press, it was costing the city of Pontiac about three times that much just to maintain the place per year, and the Detroit area isn’t exactly the land of milk and honey lately.
The former loud and proud home of Detroit Sports
A local college professor and high school sports star, C. Don Davidson orchestrated the entire thing. He grew up around Detroit, and returned in 1965, and was dismayed at the decline of the Pontiac area since his departure. He came up with an idea for a new home for the Detroit Lions. In 1966, he was hired by the University of Detroit in the architectural department. (He held a Masters in Urban Planning and Architecture, and previously had helped design Jacksonville International Airport.) The sports stadium was part of an urban renewal project for the city of Pontiac. He started talking with William Clay Ford about moving the Lions. In 1970, the stadium was approved for Pontiac, and Davidson was hired as Chief Project Designer by O’dell, Hewlett, and Luckenbach, the design firm in charge. The project, which cost just under $ 56 million to complete, was finished by 1975. They left Tiger Stadium in 1975, having shared Tiger Stadium with the Detroit Tigers for some time, which was common place in those days.
Why is it called the “Silverdome?”
The top of the stadium was made of fiberglass coated with Teflon, which is white to the naked eye, but silver with reflection from the sun. The roof was supported entirely by air pressure inside the stadium.
From the ’70s until recently
In 1978, the Detroit Pistons moved in, and shared the building with the Lions until 1988. With seating for over 90,000 (just over 80,000 when configured for football) it was the largest NFL stadium until 1997, and it’s still the third largest stadium in the USA (The two larger NFL stadiums are Cowboy Stadium, and Fed Ex Field the second largest.) The Lions moved from the Silverdome in 2002, to the new Ford Field. It sat mostly unused and collecting cobwebs, except for the parking lot being used as a drive in cinema.
The Present
The Silverdome has been host to many events, including WrestleMania III, the sporting event with the largest attendance ever (the record still stands). The Silverdome is also a regular concert venue for arena bands – you name the huge act, they’ve played there. Pontiac decided it had to go, and in October of 2009, it went to the auction block. The new owners, who will have a very reasonable mortgage on a HUGE building, plan to use it to host Major League Soccer games. They got it for an incredible deal – like getting a Mercedes with a few payday loans.
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