thrillrider Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 The pontiac silverdome was once home to the Detroit lions NFL football team, but after they moved the stadium has sat dormet. The owners of the property have asked the public what they would like to see done with the property. It seems like the public wants a water or theme park to take it's place. I think this would be a great idea, as this area is in need of both a water and theme park. The nearest theme park is cedar point (2-3 hours away), and Michigans adventure(3 hours away). Here is the story on the water/theme park idea..... http://www.wxyz.com/news/region/oakland-county/a-water-park-to-replace-the-pontiac-silverdome-its-a-popular-suggestion-as-owners-seek-ideas Here is a video of the current state of the stadium, and it's not good. This is the size of the stadium and surrounding land. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterchitchat Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 The Detroit area has a bunch of county-owned water parks that really don't satisfy the needs of the audience. A water park with 4-5 slide complexes with two wave pools and a lazy river would work well for this environment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shavethewhales Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 I'd love to see someone try an amusement property here, but given the area and the competition, they should start small with something more like Fun Spot Orlando and build out as warranted. Every time a big property like this comes out on the market everyone's dreams and ideas outrun the actual $$$ and demand available. It doesn't sound like they have any money at the moment anyway. This seems to be a publicity stunt to attract potential investment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Isn't Detroit one of the poorest major cities right now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 (edited) Isn't Detroit one of the poorest major cities right now? Why? Just because you can buy acres of land for the same price that people did 60 years ago. But as Bobby "the Brain" Heenan learned from Gorilla Monsoon, Pontaic is not Detroit. OK, I'm just rambling now Edited February 18, 2015 by larrygator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterchitchat Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Isn't Detroit one of the poorest major cities right now? Detroit is poor but some of the suburbs (mine-Novi, Royal Oak, thrillriders'- Shelby Twp.,etc.) are good ones. Pontiac is in horrible shape. They (just) had an Emergency Manager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 Isn't Detroit one of the poorest major cities right now? Pontiac is several miles north of Detroit. Detroit 'is' one of the poorest citys, but it is on the rebound. The suburbs north of the city are upper to middle class. There is a need for something like this in the area. Merlin just opened a sealife aquarium a month or so ago near the silverdome, and it is cosistantly sold out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaceBoarder Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 What would the pricetag be for a smaller park in a deal like this be? I'd take a W.A.G. and say $50-100 million... But that's just a guess on my part... Maybe they can talk to the people in Texas and Alabama since they have billions of dollars at their disposal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great Zo Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 The Pontiac Silverdome has been a Detroit-area symbol of blight and mismanagement ever since the Lions moved downtown in 2001. It was sold for pennies to the dollar by the city in 2009, and numerous redevelopment plans have come and gone. There is definitely room in the Detroit market for a mid-size water park, and no reason to doubt the financial stability of the region as a whole -- it's really no different than any other big metropolitan area, despite the challenges (though improving) that the city of Detroit has faced. My concern here is the location. Pontiac is a struggling place with a bad reputation -- and the Silverdome site in particular would probably be an instant turn-off for a lot of people. To its benefit, it's well connected to the freeway system, and though Pontiac isn't much to speak of, the location with respect to the rest of the generally-upscale-suburban Oakland County is not a bad one. Starting a park from scratch, though? I'm very skeptical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 One of the bonuses of the location, is that it's easy on/off the the expressways(M-59 AND I 75). With that being said, the bad part of Pontiac is a few miles away and would not really effect people . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirkFunk Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 The Silverdome since the Lions left has been a hilarious comedy of errors. People who look at the sale price alone don't understand that the place had offers for upwards of 18 million dollars that the city ignored, choosing instead to take the facility to auction thinking they'd increase their windfall. They were wrong. To be fair to the electors of Pontiac, having incompetent city management is better than outright corrupt city management, which is what Detroit faced for many years. But I digress. Pontiac is still in Oakland County, which among counties with a million or more inhabitants ranks in the top ten in the United States. But that doesn't fit well into coastal types stereotyping, so generally speaking the media doesn't, you know, acknowledge that at all. Ruin porn sells. Anyways, could an amusement park in Detroit's suburbs work? Yeah, probably. The metro area supported amusement parks for the majority of the last 120 years and is still one of the core markets to which Cedar Point markets itself. I hold out no actual hope that the Silverdome space will ever be home to a theme park though. This is a guy who really doesn't have boat loads of funding who thought he lucked into the deal of a lifetime buying what is now a white elephant and is trying desperately to make it look like he's doing something before the city officials start trying to nickel and dime him via code violations. At this point, I expect a couple more years of confusion, anger, probably lawsuits, and then the inevitable use of eminent domain to take the place back for something or other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted February 20, 2015 Author Share Posted February 20, 2015 A LOT of people around here miss Boblo island as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great Zo Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 A LOT of people around here miss Boblo island as well. I was too young when that place shut down -- only went there once when I was maybe 6 or 7. Still an ad painted on the side of the old Harbor Terminal building south of downtown Detroit on the river. Picture from November 9, 2014. As a Detroit area native, Cedar Point was always the main amusement park destination, and most people I know went there almost exclusively as a day trip -- including my family and friends. Although it's just about equidistant, I never knew of anyone to go across the state to Michigan's Adventure. We had the county water parks (Red Oaks and Waterford Oaks) but with how small they are, it didn't take much for them to be overcrowded. Dare I even mention Four Bears? I have to admit, I'd love to see what a modern-style mid-size water park would do in the area. Something like Zoombezi Bay near Columbus, perhaps, which seems to be pretty successful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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