Tiger Stadium Demolition Resumes

((HT: MyFoxDetroit))

Tiger Stadium's stay of execution turned out to be a brief one as a judge ruled Monday that demolition of the historic ballpark could begin again.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Prentis Edwards rejected a request by the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy to issue a preliminary injunction preventing further demolition of the stadium. He also lifted a temporary restraining order issued Friday afternoon that halted work begun just hours earlier.

Edwards agreed with attorneys for the city that the nonprofit group likely can't raise the funds for a proposed $33.4 million redevelopment project, noting there is little financing in hand after years of work.

"It appears here that the plaintiff has been given every opportunity to succeed with this project," Edwards said after about an hour of arguments, but the conservancy has "simply failed to come up with the requisite funding."

The prospects for success in the future, Edwards said, are "very, very dim."

Crews were expected to resume tearing down what remains of Tiger Stadium "immediately," Waymon Guillebeaux, executive vice president for project management and contract services at the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., said after the hearing.

Much of the ballpark, which opened in 1912 as Navin Field, was demolished last year after sitting vacant since the Detroit Tigers departed for Comerica Park in 1999. But a section extending from dugout to dugout was left standing while the conservancy sought to raise money to transform the stadium into a commercial building with a working ballfield.

Michael Myckowiak, attorney for the conservancy, argued in court Monday that the city's Economic Development Corp. has acted in "bad faith" in its dealings with the conservancy. He blasted the vote last week by the EDC board to level the stadium, saying the conservancy wasn't told a decision was imminent.

"It's our belief that what went on ... was a sham," he said.

Myckowiak asked for more time to raise money, saying the group has paid for security at the site through the end of June.

But Frederick Berg, attorney for the EDC, said the conservancy had been given plenty of time but simply didn't come up with the tax credits, loans and other financing necessary for the redevelopment project.

"They don't have them today, they won't have them tomorrow and it's not likely that they're going to have them any time soon," he said.

Stopping demolition now will cost the city $150,000, in addition to the $400,000 already being paid to the demolition contractor to carry out the work, Berg said.

"There are a multitude of economic reasons why the EDC believes the time has come and gone for the conservancy to make its case," he said.

After the hearing, conservancy leaders appealed to Mayor Dave Bing to intervene to save the ballpark. But Bing said in a statement that while he remained "sensitive to the concerns of those who wish to preserve Tiger Stadium," he would "honor" the judge's decision.

Myckowiak said the conservancy would decide later Monday whether to appeal Edwards' decision.

Here's coverage from our friends at WJBK-TV...