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Auburn Hills Officials Hope Palace Won't 'Become Cancer On The Community' If Pistons Leave

AUBURN HILLS (WWJ) - City officials while they're not  thrilled by the prospect of the Detroit Pistons departing Auburn Hills for downtown after 28 years — they're not ready to give up on the Palace.

City Manager Tom Tanghe told WWJ's Ron Dewey he is already hearing from residents afraid the Palace will be "the next Silverdome" should the Pistons leave town.

However, he believes the property has too much potential for that to happen.

"Being a good corporate citizen, I think that the owners would not want it to become sort of a cancer on the community by letting it sit there and rot, because that will just become an attractive nuisance," Tanghe said. "...We would expect that they would — if not keep the property operational somehow — that they would certainly maintain the property."

Tanghe sad, while city officials haven't been a party to conversations regarding the Pistons potential move, they are not moving forward on the premise the venue will be shutting down anytime soon.

"My guess is that they have some level of commitments that they need to fulfill there for at least a short-term, maybe a year or two; I have to believe they probably have some bookings there that are going to go into at least the near-term future."

Tanghe acknowledges that without a sports in residence, it's not likely they Palace would be able to stay open as only a concert venue.  Perhaps, he said, the venue could become home to another team.

"That arena by the way is capable of having not only basketball but ice in the arena," he said. "So, I don't know what they have planned and so we're not operating as if it's just disappearing."

Palace owner Tom Gores has spent an estimated $40 million in recent years renovating the massive facility, which sits on about 110 acres of valuable land, according to Tanghe.

"But if it were to go away," he added, "we certainly also hope it doesn't become an eyesore in the community; that it would be removed from the property and that the property could be reutilized for some other development purpose."

In that case, Tanghe said, he'd like to see something in the automotive realm move in.

While as city manager he'd love to see businesses stay and thrive in Auburn Hills, he does also see value in a Pistons move downtown.

"A strong core city is great for the region," Tanghe said. "There is nothing bad that comes from improvement to the city of Detroit. The stronger it is, the better we all are."

Meantime, Arn Tellum, vice chairman of Palace Sports and Entertainment, says they're "deep in discussions" with Olympia Entertainment about joining the Red Wings in Little Caesars Arena and they're "hopeful" the move to Detroit will happen.

This comes after Oakland County confirmed last week that it had turned down an offer to buy the Palace for around $384 million.

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