Amazon Seeks To Take Over Site Of The Old Pontiac Silverdome

Amazon.com Inc AMZN is seeking to use the site of the Pontiac Silverdome, once the home of the Detroit Lions and Pistons, for a distribution center — a move that could create 1,500 jobs in the city. 

The city of Pontiac’s planning commission on Wednesday approved a special exemption permit for Amazon to use the site of the Pontiac Silverdome, a first step in the proposed $250-million conversion of the property where the now-demolished stadium once sat into a warehouse, distribution and order fulfillment center for the mega-retailer.

"The former Silverdome site is an ideal location, and Pontiac is poised with a ready workforce," Pontiac Mayor Deirdre Waterman told the Detroit Free Press. "Landing Amazon will bolster Pontiac's continued economic success and further our pipeline of pairing industry with talent."

AMAZON IN PONTIAC: Amazon plans $250 million campus on Pontiac Silverdome site bringing 1,500 jobs.
Campus would be company’s first to include delivery station and fulfillment center on one site.
If all is approved, delivery station open 2020 and fulfillment center open 2021. pic.twitter.com/eU1cTKqmxM

— Mark Cavitt (@MarkCavitt) September 19, 2019

Details that emerged at the planning commission include a plan for Atlanta-based developer Seefried Industrial Properties to own and overhaul the 127-acre site, which it would then lease to Amazon, which plans to begin operating there in 2020.

The arena, which was home to the Detroit Lions from 1975-2001 and the NBA’s Detroit Pistons from 1978-1988, closed in 2013 and was demolished starting in 2017. It also was the site of the matches played in the 1994 Soccer World Cup; the Super Bowl in 1982; and a 1987 visit by Pope John Paul II that drew more than 93,000 people.

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The Pontiac Silverdome in 2017, prior to its demolition. Photo by Dustin Blitchok.