The Pontiac Silverdome is going out with a bang on Dec. 3.

The city of Pontiac issued a permit in early November for the long-awaited demolition of the abandoned stadium, once home to the Detroit Lions.

Demolition is set to begin Dec. 3 with a dramatic explosion inside the 42-year-old sports venue. The blast is needed to break metal beams that support the Silverdome's upper ring, which once held equipment used to keep its now-tattered roof inflated. The stadium’s original Teflon-coated fiberglass roof famously collapsed in 1985.

"Each vertical beam surrounding the Silverdome will house a small charge, which upon detonation, will cause the beams to break and the steel ring to fall to the ground," the city announced in a news release.

Following the explosion, the remainder of the demolition work will be done with hydraulic excavators and completed in sections. The entire process is expected to take about a year, according to the city.

Detroit-based contractor Adamo Group is under contract for the explosion and demolition work with the Silverdome's owner, Triple Investment Group, which also owns the Penobscot Building in downtown Detroit.

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Pontiac Mayor Deirdre Waterman said Triple Investment Group is responsible for all demolition costs. Those costs were not immediately available.

“Taxpayers paid a lot to build the Silverdome. We don’t need to be encumbered with the cost of taking it down,” Waterman said in an interview.

There will be public viewing opportunities for the Dec. 3 explosion, as well as a commemorative event that could feature former Lions players. In case of inclement weather, the explosion would happen on Dec. 10.

The Silverdome's 127-acre site is expected to be easier to market for redevelopment without the stadium on it.

"Farewell Silverdome, hello world of new opportunity," Waterman said. "When the demolition is complete, the site will be one of the hottest properties in southeast Michigan."

The Silverdome dates to 1975 and has been rarely used since 2002, when the Lions left for Ford Field in Detroit. Triple Investment bought the stadium from the city in a 2009 auction for $583,000, but did not find a long-term user or buyer for the site.

In 2013, the Silverdome's roof was damaged in a winter storm, exposing everything inside and speeding the physical decay.

A subsequent clearance auction of the venue's remaining contents netted about $500,000 from items as diverse as end-zone turf and a urinal signed by Barry Sanders.

Most recently, the Silverdome's parking lot has been used to store nearly 9,000 Volkswagens that were recalled as part of the German automaker's diesel-emissions scandal. At least 69 of the vehicles were stolen from the property last summer.

Waterman said there is no hard deadline to remove the Volkswagens, but she assumes that the vehicles will need to be moved as the demolition proceeds.

Adamo's demolition crews are to tackle the Silverdome project once they finish blowing up the Georgia Dome, former home of the Atlanta Falcons, later this month.

"It’s the same blast crew," Waterman said.

The Silverdome was one of six sites in Oakland County that were offered up to potentially help Detroit in its regional bid to land e-commerce giant Amazon's second headquarters. The decision on the headquarters comes next year.

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