Demolition in Full Swing as the Palace of Auburn Hills Comes Down

It's one of those things that makes your heart kinda sink when you see it. The walls are starting to fall at the Palace of Auburn Hills and along with them so many memories.

The Palace was once the largest NBA arena and hosted a wide variety of concerts featuring everything from legendary artists like Pink Floyd, U2, Aerosmith (who played the venue 14 times) to more contemporary acts like Rhianna and Katy Perry. Even homegrown acts such as Bob Seger and Grand Funk Railroad have graced the stage at the Palace.

In June of last year, a joint partnership between Pistons owner Tom Gores and Michigan-based Schostak Brothers & Company was announced.  The site sold for $22 million and according to the announcement, the land will be developed. The plans are to include corporate offices, research & development, and technology companies. The Detroit Pistons of course have relocated to Little Caesars Arena.

Demolition of the exterior is now well underway with the roof and 21 steel beams to be imploded in March sometime. The gates are locked at the entrances and over grown in some spots. Large signs on how to contact the developers, Schostak Brothers & Company, for information and prospects now stand where parking information once was. The area is actually quite eerie.

The arena opened on November 5th, 1988, it was a state-of-the-art facility known for its luxury suites and a design that most NBA teams envied... and later borrowed from for their own new arena designs. The Palace was one of the last two NBA arenas that had not sold its naming rights to a corporation, the other being New York's Madison Square Garden.