Hunt Is on To Fill 127 Acres With Office, Retail

PONTIAC, MI-The city has hired CB Richard Ellis to sell the Pontiac Silverdome, the shuttered former home of the Detroit Lions. The city has been trying to market the 127-acre property since the team left to the new Ford Field in Detroit in 2002, but has not been successful.

The city is in the center of the Michigan’s most affluent area, Oakland County, but is one of the poorest communities surrounded by blight, vacant businesses and high crime. However, CBRE has been asked by the city to find a buyer willing to replace the 80,000-seat stadium with a corporate campus or a mixed-use retail development. The property, at I-75 and M-59, is zoned residential, says Myrna Burroughs, a CBRE associate.

“They hope to open it up to as many type of buyers, it’s ideal for a corporate campus, or maybe a hospital campus, or possible a setting for big box stores,” Burroughs tells GlobeSt.com. She says that the city is pretty open, but does want to stay away from one type of property. “They do not want heavy industrial or manufacturing, but they may take light industrial,” Burroughs says.

Industrial use was one of the few potential discussed years ago for the property, when heavyweight developers Etkin Equities and Schostak Brothers were finalists to propose projects for the property. The plans died through failed negotiations with the city. The stadium has been dark since it was used as a practice field by Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2006 Super Bowl. It’s costing the city about $1.5 million each year to maintain the property.

Burroughs says the city is in talks with the county and state to provide economic incentives to a buyer. Her company has been given four months by the City Council to find an acceptable offer. “The city would like something that’s going to provide ongoing tax revenue, that will provide jobs for city residents and will enable local subcontractors to participate,” she says.