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...

Tiger Stadium Demolition Stopped

((HT: MyFoxDetroit))

Tiger Stadium's final out appeared at hand Friday as crews began demolishing what's left of the venerable ballpark, until a judge halted the demolition -- with an assist from a fan who charged the mound armed with the court order.

A temporary restraining order issued by Wayne County Circuit Judge Isidore Torres around 5 p.m. EDT halted demolition work that had started several hours earlier.

Crews are barred from "engaging in any demolition activity" at the Detroit stadium until a Monday morning hearing before Judge Prentis Edwards. The judge then will decide whether to extend the ballpark's reprieve from the wrecking ball.

The injunction was requested by the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy, a nonprofit group that had tried to raise money to preserve and redevelop the ballpark, much of which was knocked down last year in a first round of demolition. But the city's Economic Development Corp. board voted Tuesday to reject the $33.4 million plan, saying the funding wasn't in place.

"The argument is easy -- is there irreparable harm to the city by waiting and is there irreparable harm to us by continuing?" said Gary Gillette, a conservancy board member.

But when attorney Michael Myckowiak and others arrived at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull to serve the order on the demolition contractor, they found they couldn't get inside the covered fence surrounding the site.

That's when stadium supporter Chip Owen took the order, got inside the fence and "ran toward the mound with the papers," said Rick Ruffner, a conservancy board member. "He gave the papers to the construction company and demolition stopped immediately."

Owen, 48, of Grosse Pointe Park, was given a warning by police.

"I found myself inside the fence and I just wanted them to stop. There was a court order and we couldn't serve it. ... I did what anybody here would have done," Owen said.

Earlier Friday, a backhoe tore apart a portion of the lower deck along the former third base line shortly after Detroit Economic Growth Corp. executive vice president Waymon Guillebeaux emerged from an onsite meeting with the demolition contractor and told The Associated Press he had given the green light to begin.

As the backhoe worked on the lower deck, another machine blasted water overhead to keep down dust. Other equipment and workers could be seen at the site. Dozens of fans watched from a nearby pedestrian bridge.

Leveling the stadium was to take 30 days and crews would remain onsite for an additional 30-60 days to handle cleanup, according to DEGC spokesman Robert Rossbach. Rossbach said the city of Detroit is paying $400,000 to a joint venture of MCM Management Corp. of Bloomfield Hills and Farrow Group of Detroit to handle the project. The demolition contract also allows the companies to sell the remaining portion of the stadium for scrap.

Myckowiak said the conservancy will argue in court that it should be given more time to put together the money for its proposed redevelopment of the ballpark.

"They have paid for security at the site through the end of June with the understanding from the city that they would have at least until that time to have their financing in order," he said.

City development officials have said the group was given more than enough time to raise money and that the partially demolished stadium is becoming unsafe.

Tiger Stadium opened in 1912 as Navin Field, on the same day Fenway Park opened in Boston.

The Tigers departed for nearby Comerica Park after the 1999 season.

Wrecking crews went to work last June, and much of the stadium was torn down by fall. But a section stretching from dugout to dugout was left standing while the conservancy sought to raise money to preserve and redevelop the stadium as a commercial building with a working ballfield.

WXYZ-TV/ABC7's Val Clark was at the Corner as demolition started, and then, stopped...

Committee Votes To Level Tiger Stadium

All those of us at OSG HQ have to say is: "A pox on all your houses..."

((HT: MyFoxDetroit))

What remains of historic Tiger Stadium ((pictured, thanks SkyFox2)) will be demolished after the city rejected a $33.4 million proposal by a nonprofit group to preserve and renovate the old ballpark.

The Economic Development Corp. board voted 7-1 on Tuesday to authorize the complete demolition of the stadium, said Waymon Guillebeaux, executive vice president of project management for the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., a public-private group that staffs the EDC.

"We cannot have a partially demolished building remaining indefinitely," Guillebeaux told The Associated Press.

A nonprofit group trying to save the stadium blasted the decision, saying it wasn't told a vote was coming. One leader called the board's decision "shortsighted."

"We are obviously going to do everything we can -- including calling on all of our friends and supporters -- to try to get this decision reversed," said Gary Gillette, board member and secretary of the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy.

The ballpark at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull became home to the Tigers in 1912, when it opened as Navin Field. The beloved stadium hosted 87 years of baseball, three All-Star games, Babe Ruth's 700th career home run in 1934 and even the Detroit Lions from 1938 to 1974.

The city, which owns the stadium, searched for ways to develop the site after the Tigers departed for nearby Comerica Park after the 1999 season. After a few years, officials began to talk about demolishing the building to make way for new development.

Wrecking crews finally went to work last June, and much of the stadium was torn down by fall. But the Detroit City Council voted 5-3 last October to spare -- for the time being -- a remaining wedge stretching from dugout to dugout. Council members said they wanted to give stadium advocates, led by the conservancy, more time to raise funds for a proposed redevelopment of the surviving structure.

The group submitted a plan earlier this year to renovate the stadium into a commercial building with a working ballfield for youth and amateur baseball. The project had an estimated price tag of $33.4 million, much of which would be covered by historical and other tax credits. A $3.8 million federal earmark also was approved for the project.

"In terms of some of their plans, they met our approval," Guillebeaux said. "The biggest issue was the funding."

Guillebeaux said the conservancy's proposal relied on plans to raise funds rather than money, loans and credits already in hand.

"If they came in with a solid, well-funded plan, I'm sure we would discuss it," he said. "But at this point they have been afforded every opportunity to provide that."

The conservancy has struggled to raise money "in the teeth of the worst economic situation since the Great Depression," Gillette said, but progress is being made and the group is optimistic it can reach its fundraising goals.

Gillette said other development projects in Detroit seem to be given "the benefit of the doubt" when it comes to funding benchmarks, but the stadium project is falling victim to the DEGC's "blind lust for demolition. Their idea of how to redevelop Detroit is to demolish it."

Guillebeaux said negotiations already are under way with the two Detroit-area companies that carried out last year's partial demolition under a joint venture allowing them to sell the stadium's steel and other components for scrap. The city didn't pay for the project but forfeited a $300,000 payment from the companies by not authorizing the complete demolition of the ballpark.

That isn't an option this time around, Guillebeaux said, given a sharp decline in scrap prices in the last year. Demolishing the rest of the stadium likely will cost the city about $400,000, with $300,000 covered by money put up by the conservancy in advance, in case their plans for the site were rejected or fell through, he said.

Guillebeaux said demolition will begin as soon as possible.

Here's the story on Fox2 Detroit with Roop Raj overhead...

Tearing Down Tiger Stadium

As Yankee Stadium begins its final months of use, including hosting its final All Star game, there will be a lot of reflection of the great moments not just in baseball, but in sports that have taken place in one of sports’ greatest stages. From Don Larsen’s perfect game to the 1958 NFL Championship dubbed the greatest game ever when the Baltimore Colts defeated the N.Y. Giants in overtime to all the great title fights staged there. While Yankee Stadium’s death is iminant, in Detroit, Tiger Stadium’s death has begun.

This week construction workers began the demolition of this great ballpark on Michigan and Trumbull. Now Tiger Stadium’s guts are exposed and many Tiger fans are no doubt shedding a tear as this great ballpark comes down. Tiger Stadium has meant so much to those from Detroit and all over Michigan. A current co-worker of mine who grew up in the Detroit area shared with me memories of watching Al Kaline, Denny McLain, Willie Horton and all the great Tigers play in that ballpark. To him there was nothing like spending a summer afternoon or evening watching the Tigers at Tiger Stadium, a feeling shared by many Tiger fans from all over Michigan.

No matter what the sport, ballparks have a romantic connection that is easily shared. My best memories in my youth is watching the Arkansas Razorbacks with my dad at Razorback Stadium, a structure that looks nothing like it did when my dad and I went to games but thank god is not coming down anytime soon. I can talk all day about watching Steve Little kick a 67 yard field goal against Texas, still an NCAA record or watching great players like Earl Campbell before they were big time. In fact my first Hog game my dad and I went to was in 1975 against Tulsa, who had a receiver named Steve Largent. He went on to become a Hall of Famer. These are memories that I treasure just like Tiger fans who feel that same way about Tiger Stadium, only that structure will be gone living only in their mind.

I unfortunately never saw a game there but I have been to Tiger Stadium. 4 years ago while producing a motorsports event in Detroit, I checkout out Tiger Stadium on a free afternoon. I was hoping one of the gates would be open so I could see inside since the ballpark is totally enclosed. The huge padlocks on every possible opening prevented that. I just saw the outside structure and the huge light towers on the roof. I wanted to go inside and picture some of the great moments in that ballpark. The best I could do from outside was trying to find the light tower Reggie Jackson hit with his massive home run in the 1971 All Star Game.

I’m glad I was able to pay a visit to Tiger Stadium before she came down. Goodbye Tiger Stadium, at 96 you live a long life.

--John Wilkerson

Tiger Stadium: 1912 - 2008