Goodbye, Palace of Auburn Hills
Implosion knocks down remains of 32-year-old arena
The Palace of Auburn Hills is no more.
An 8 a.m. implosion on Saturday, July 11 saw the skeleton of the arena brought down with a bang. It took 900-pounds of dynamite hooked up in three spots on each of the Palace’s 21 support beams, dropping the 6,300-ton roof and leaving a pile of steel and concrete in its wake.
Now Carleton-based demolition company Homrich will begin the approximately six-month long process of removing the debris and filling the hole left by the former 22,000-seat arena.
It’s going to take about 125,000 yards of material to level out the site, according to William Hall, project manager at Livoniabased developer Schostak Bros. & Co, owners of the property.
“On our current schedule without any delays from the pandemic, we should be completed with the site by the end of the year,” Hall said.
The property is likely to become a mixed-use development and was previously rezoned by the city for research and development. Palace Sports and Entertainment sold the 100acre property to Schostak in July 2019 for an undisclosed amount.
“There have been some companies we’ve already talked to about possible development of the property. I would say we’ve had conversations with at least half-a-dozen people.
A Saturday morning implosion brought down the 32-year-old arena.
Pictured is a portion of the wreckage from the implosion of the Palace of Auburn Hills.
This property is very interesting and for a lot of businesses, its proximity is very attractive,” Hall said.
Auburn Hills Mayor Kevin McDaniel said he believes whatever the site becomes, it will bring quite a few jobs to the area. He estimated that the property, which has about 88-acres of buildable land, could
accommodate over a million square-feet of building space.
“The opportunities here are going to be great and ultimately will create a lot of jobs. This site could easily become a technology and research expansion opportunity for something like aerospace, biotech or autonomous vehicles,” McDaniel
said. “We’re looking forward to the future.”
With about 40 people on site each workday, Homrich began with the interior demolition at the end of 2019. Exterior demolition, stockpiling and storing of materials were put on hold for about three months during the shutdown. Scott Homrich, CEO of the demolition company, said the implosion was the safest option to bring down the roof due to its height and weight.
“Now we’re going to bring in machines and sheers to cut the steel and it will all be recycled. The concrete columns and the slab will be pulled out, crushed and stockpiled,” Homrich said.
The concrete will turned into gravel to the top of the site.
The Palace of Auburn Hills officially closed in the fall of 2017 following the Detroit Piston’s move to downtown Detroit. be fill