AUBURN HILLS (WKZO AM/FM) — There was controversy as Kid Rock opened the Little Ceasars Arena, and a very different controversy as Bob Segar closed the Palace of Auburn Hills Saturday night.
Some attending the concert were upset the former home of the Detroit Pistons, one of the largest in the NBA and less than 30-years old may be slated for demolition.
Some attending the sold out show wondered from a financial point of view, how a facility that cost $90-million to build and remains competitive as sports facilities are concerned, can be disposable.
Others were simply nostalgic for the good times they have had there at various concerts and Pistons Championships, and wished it could go on forever.
But there is also a realization that it doesn’t have a big league sports franchise or any prospects of booking enough events to keep it busy, and make it profitable.
Auburn Hills has already already rezoned the property for technology and research facilities. City officials were reportedly concerned that there could be a repeat of what happened with the Pontiac Silverdome, another suburban sports facility that became obsolete before its time. It rotted in place for years while owners tried to figure out what to do with it.
The Detroit Free Press quotes several urban planners who say they made a massive miscalculation decades ago that Detroit would continue to grow as a metro-plex and continue to spread into the suburbs.
No one predicted that the Auto-crisis and the Great Recession would decimate the city’s population and that changing trends would make millennials want to move back downtown.
It made Bob Segar’s rendition of “Turn the Page” especially poignant Saturday night.
