Pontiac Silverdome on sale for $30 million

The empty and now-ramshackle Pontiac Silverdome is for sale again.

The asking price for the stadium and its 127 acres is a "flexible" $30 million, said CBRE realtor Robert Mihelich.

The property hit the market several weeks ago and has received nearly two dozen inquiries and two actual offers, he said.

"We've gotten quite a bit of interest, locally, nationally and internationally," Mihelich said Thursday.

Formerly home to the Detroit Lions, the Silverdome has been in advancing disrepair since its inflatable canvas roof became damaged in a 2013 winter storm. The roof is now completely shredded and is strewn across the ground and what remains of the stadium's 80,300 seats.

The Silverdome property has been owned since 2009 by the Triple Investment Group, which bought it at auction from the City of Pontiac for $583,000. The group is controlled by the family of Andreas Apostolopoulos, who is also owner of downtown Detroit's Penobscot Building.

After buying the stadium, Apostolopoulos said in a Free Press interview that he planned to invest millions of dollars to revive the Silverdome as a big-event venue.

"We're going to 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 going to be for sale," Apostolopoulos said at the time.

Katherine Holmes, a spokeswoman for the Triple Investment Group, said Thursday that the owners are looking for sale, lease or partnership development opportunities.

"They have spent a lot of money" on the Silverdome, she said. "In the early days they did a lot of upgrades to the building, I believe in the millions of dollars, and they continue to pay the taxes."

Triple Investment held a clearance auction last year of the Silverdome's remaining contents that netted about $500,000 from items such as end-zone turf, scoreboards and copper wiring.

It also launched a design contest with cash awards early this year for ideas on how to redevelop the site. The company spokeswoman said the contest results are expected later in the month.

The Silverdome, which opened in 1975, has been used only sporadically since 2002, when the Detroit Lions moved to Ford Field in Detroit. It was built at an original cost of $55.7 million.

Mihelich said most prospective buyers are looking to raze the stadium and start fresh with an industrial or commercial development or mix of the two.

"My guess is, at the end of the day, it probably will be a redevelopment site," Mihelich said, "and it probably will be a corporate headquarters for somebody."

Contact JC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JCReindl.