Michigan’s Economic Darwin Award

Michigan’s Economic Darwin Award
Silverdome Sells for a half-mil

From the WSJ:

Pontiac, Mich., reached a deal to sell the 80,000-seat Pontiac Silverdome to an unidentified Canadian buyer for $583,000, about 1% of what it cost to build, the city said Monday.

The city said the buyer planned to convert the former home of the National Football League's Detroit Lions into a soccer facility. A city official declined to release further information until the deal was finalized.

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," Mr. Leeb said. "But I'm happy that we made the decision. Procrastination was literally costing us millions of dollars."

The Silverdome stadium cost about $55.7 million to build in 1975. The Detroit Lions played there until the 2001 season after which the team left for a new stadium in downtown Detroit.

Pontiac, which has attempted to sell the Silverdome for years, put it on the auction block and offered it for sale to the highest bidder, with no minimum price. As recently as last year, developers offered $17.5 million for the property, which includes the stadium and the surrounding 127 acres. The stadium costs an estimated $1.5 million a year to maintain.
Potential buyers initially submitted bids Thursday. The city chose to invite those bidders to a live auction held Monday.

Did I get this article straight? Last year Pontiac had a bid of over $17Mil and sold it this week for $583,000?