March 12, 2010
Silverdome owner knows these guys, see
The possibly crazy guy who bought the Pontiac Silverdome last year for $583,000 has given his first interview on the subject of what he plans to do with his new inflatable toy, and he sounds, well, possibly crazy — even after accounting for his speaking in stereotypically broken English. Take it away, Andreas Apostolopoulos:
"We're gonna spend a lot of money here, create a lot of jobs, meet a lot of new people. It's not for sale, and it's never gonna be for sale. ... When I seen it, I like it. I knew there was a lotta work to be done. But work doesn't scare me, you know?"
Apostolopoulos says he's been approached to use the Silverdome, which costs $1.5 million to maintain even when idle, for events like horse racing, polo, and soccer. The people behind these proposals were described by Apostolopoulos as "some guy" and "another guy." Though they already have monster trucks lined up, so maybe tomorrow it'll be major league polo. Or monster truck polo!
November 30, 2009
New Silverdome owner: Anybody got a ball?
The new owner of the Pontiac Silverdome has gone public with his plans for the vacant 80,000-seat facility:
"I like sports and I like being involved with sports, so I hope to bring sporting events people will like," Andreas Apostolopoulos, chief executive officer of the Toronto-based Triple Properties Inc., said Wednesday. "I'm not just thinking soccer, but football or baseball or whatever."
This at least explains why Apostolopoulos previously said he'd be putting an MLS franchise in the dome, when MLS has a stated distaste for oversized venues: He has no idea what he's talking about. Though for a purchase price of $583,000 — I wasn't the only one to note that this is cheaper than some apartments — he can afford to buy first, and figure out what he's doing later.
November 17, 2009
Silverdome sold for less than a studio apartment in Manhattan
And we have a winner in the Pontiac Silverdome auction: A Toronto-based real estate company won the 34-year-old former home of the Detroit Lions with a bid of $583,000, or just over 1% of what it cost to build originally. Even though the price was low, getting the stadium into private hands was important for Pontiac's financial health, according to Fred Leeb, the city's emergency manager. "Even I have to admit that the number is lower than I would like," Fred Leeb, Pontiac's state-appointed emergency financial manager, told the Wall Street Journal. "But I'm happy that we made the decision. Procrastination was literally costing us millions of dollars."
The names of the Silverdome's new owners weren't revealed, but Leeb did say that they plan on using the dome for a Major League Soccer franchise, as well as a pro women's soccer team. That's a bit odd, given MLS's increasing insistence that its teams play in soccer-only stadiums, but I guess at that price, the Toronto group can afford to buy a stadium that it plans to throw away in a couple of years.
October 08, 2009
If you ever wanted your own domed stadium, wait no longer: The city of Pontiac, Michigan is has started taking bids for the Silverdome, which has been pretty much unused since the Detroit Lions moved out in 2002. There's no minimum bid, but keep in mind that the place costs $1.5 million a year just to maintain, so it probably wouldn't make the best starter home. That, and the 200-foot ceilings.