Most folks have heard about the Pontiac Silverdome selling for pennies on the dollar. That’s apparently an overstatement, as the stadium actually sold forcloser to one penny on the dollar.
Built in 1975, the Silverdome has been home to the Detroit Lions and the Detroit Pistons over time. It costs the city of Pontiac $1.5 million to maintain. This month the City of Pontiac, Michigan accepted a bid of $583,000 in its auction of the stadium. A family-owned real estate company based in Toronto is the winning bidder (though the deal has not closed yet) and ultimately plans to refurbish the stadium and use it for men’s and women’s Major League Soccer (that’s a discussion for espn).
This property, with an overall building size somewhere around 462,000 square feet was built for $55.7 million or roughly $120 per square foot. It was auctioned off 34 years later for $1.20 per square foot, or one-one hundredth of its original value. It is still considered a “win” since the cost to maintain the property is no longer on the City’s dime, so to speak.
