Pontiac -- A Bloomfield Hills attorney who offered $20 million for the Pontiac Silverdome two years ago will be in court today to ask a judge to block its sale this week for $583,000.
The 80,300-seat Silverdome and adjacent 127 acres were sold Monday in a closed-door auction attended by only a few city officials and four invited bidders. A still-unidentified Toronto group was chosen to take over the Silverdome, built in 1975 at a cost of $55.7 million. The group said it hopes to bring a soccer league to the venue.
"We believe we have strong grounds to challenge this sale," said attorney H. Wallace Parker of Silver Stallion Corp., whose efforts to buy the stadium stalled last year over disputes about repair work, lost property and a city-required fee.
"There are a lot of angry, upset people in Pontiac right now. And we think we can open this back up and have it done right."
Parker wants to turn the Silverdome into a multiuse entertainment destination, with a hotel, equine research facility, a thoroughbred horse racetrack and a casino with slot machines. The complaint for an injunction alleges the city breached a contract with Silver Stallion and engaged in racial discrimination against the minority-owned firm. The lawsuit alleges Mayor Clarence Phillips "openly expressed a bias against" Silver Stallion in favor of bid competitors.
City officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but some have said they were upset by the sale to the Canadian company.
"We need someone to look into this," City Councilman Everett Seay said. "The citizens of Pontiac deserve better. This (sale) is pennies on the dollar (of what it cost)."
In August 2008, Silver Stallion made a $100,000 deposit of earnest money in escrow under a purchase agreement with the city and hired an engineering firm to do an environmental assessment of the facility, according to court documents filed this week.
The closing was delayed after reviews found possible contamination, according to the lawsuit. In February meetings regarding the group's ability to fund the purchase, the city asked that Silver Stallion release the $100,000 in escrow to the city and dropped the purchase price to $17 million due to damage to a mini-dome and missing property.
The auction was announced the next day.
On Nov. 12, according to the complaint, Silver Stallion submitted a $17 million bid to the auctioneer.
The city has not released the names of any bidders, and it's unclear if Parker's group was part of the final four auction.
The complaint seeks to stop the city from proceeding with the sale to anyone but Silver Stallion, to appoint a receiver to enforce a previous agreement between corporation and city, and seeks damages, if warranted.
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