Vince Ellis

Detroit Free Press

The Detroit Pistons are moving to the New Center.

The Pistons and Henry Ford Health System have scheduled a 3 p.m. news conference today to announce the new location of the new corporate headquarters and practice facility.

The news conference will be held at Gilmour Center at One Ford Place, three blocks from W. Grand Blvd., in the heart of the New Center, where the site is located.

The news comes after the Pistons announced in November their move to downtown starting next season. The Pistons will share Little Caesars Arena, which still is under construction, with the Detroit Red Wings.

A memorandum agreement with the City of Detroit obligated the Pistons to relocate the rest of their franchise downtown.

A second location immediately north of the arena was under consideration, but the New Center location apparently is more convenient.

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There’s no official word on the cost of construction, but Palace Sports & Entertainment vice chairman Arn Tellem gave a ballpark figure to the Free Press late last year.

“We’re not just playing our games there,” Tellem said. “We’re moving our offices. Our practice facility development will wind up being in excess of $50 (million) approaching $75 or more million dollars development in the city. A lot of that money will be going to Detroit employees and Detroit firms to do the building.

“We’re going to employ hundreds of people downtown, we’re going to be paying city income taxes where the city is going to get dollars every year. When you talk about the players’ (salaries), that will be significant income. So we’re going to be contributing in a lot of ways and the study we provided that was done by the University of Michigan, the economic impact we will have on the city will be in the hundreds of millions.”

It’s expected the Pistons will qualify for tax breaks.

There’s speculation that the Pistons will partner with Henry Ford in the area of sports medicine, a trend in other NBA markets. An example is the Mayo Clinic’s partnership with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA in Minneapolis.

The development is contingent on Detroit City Council ultimately approving the Pistons’ relocation to Little Caesars Arena. The headquarters and facility would not be finished in time for next season, meaning the team would still be based in Auburn Hills with games played downtown.

An announcement was expected last week, but was postponed when Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch died.

Contact Vince Ellis at vellis@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @vincent_ellis56.