Palace of Auburn Hills to be demolished this fall

JC Reindl
Detroit Free Press

The Palace of Auburn Hills — the Detroit Pistons' former home — will meet the wrecking ball this fall.

The Pistons organization announced Monday that The Palace has been sold to a joint venture involving team owner Tom Gores and Livonia-based developer Schostak Brothers & Co., which plans to redevelop the roughly 100-acre property as a mixed-use office park. 

The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Saturday, September 23, 2017.

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The Palace itself is to be demolished sometime in the fall. The method of demolition is still to be determined, sources said, and a last-call public auction of Palace items, fixtures, equipment and memorabilia is a possibility. 

The Palace underwent some $40 million in renovations, including new seats and refurbished floors, just a few years before it closed.

The Palace opened in 1988 with a Sting concert and hosted its last event, a Bob Seger concert, in September 2017. The Pistons moved out in fall 2017, heading to the new Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, although the team's offices stayed at The Palace.

The Pistons organization is preparing to relocate the last of its business operations out of The Palace and into the new Henry Ford Detroit Pistons Performance Center in Midtown Detroit, which is on pace to open later this year.

Financial terms of The Palace's sale were not disclosed. A timeline for the site's redevelopment has yet to be announced.

"We promised the people of Auburn Hills and Oakland County that we would find a solution that would be good for the community and make a positive economic impact,” Gores said in a news release. “Partnering with a proven, well-respected developer like Schostak Brothers is an important step in delivering on that promise.”

The Palace sits amid some of the most in-demand land in southeast Michigan for new auto-supplier headquarters and research and development companies. The vacancy rate for industrial, light manufacturing and R&D space in Auburn Hills is nearly zero.

Oakland University was once said to be in serious talks with Gores' organization to buy the Palace site, but a deal never came together due to financing issues, sources told the Free Press. The university had hoped to partner with a private developer.

ContactJC Reindl at313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jcreindl. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.