Amazon Wants to Redevelop Silverdome Site

By Rusty Thomson

Published: September 19, 2019 at 6:22 PM

08 Oct 2001: during the game at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. The Rams defeated the Lions 35-0. DIGITAL IMAGE. Mandatory Credit: Tom Pidgeon/AllsportThe Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. October 2001. (Photo by Tom Pidgeon/Allsport)

Former home of NFL Lions being considered by Amazon.

The former home of the Detroit Lions is being considered as a new home by Amazon.

The online retail giant has proposed using the former Pontiac Silverdome as a distribution centre in a $250 million project that could generate 1,500 jobs.

Details of plans for the site were made public Wednesday night at a Pontiac Planning Commission meeting.

The city says its planning commission approved a permit for the site to be used as a warehouse, distribution and fulfilment campus.

Pontiac says Seattle-based Amazon would lease buildings from a developer. Plans call for Amazon to start operating at the site as soon as next year.

Company spokesman Ryan Wilson addressed the Pontiac Planning Commission Wednesday night.

"We don't typically reveal Amazon's name at this point in the project, we have a long ways to go. But because this site is so important to this community we thought it was the right thing to do, to be transparent, to be upfront and take to y'all about what we want to do at this site," says Wilson.

Environmental studies need to be completed before the plan can be finalized.

The Lions played at the Silverdome from 1975-2001. It also was the home of the NBA's Detroit Pistons and hosted the Super Bowl in 1982. The Silverdome was taken down with a partial implosion in 2017.