The Pistons yesterday broke ground on The Henry Ford-Detroit Pistons Performance Center, the "last phase in the Pistons' move" from the Palace of Auburn Hills to downtown Detroit, according to a front-page piece by Vince Ellis of the DETROIT FREE PRESS. The facility will serve as the team's practice home and corporate HQ, and the new HQ is "about two miles north" of Little Caesars Arena. The team hopes to "create a hub" in Detroit's New Center neighborhood by jump-starting "growth in the area." New Center-based development company The Platform will serve as developer, while The Christman Company and L.S. Brinker Co. will "oversee site construction." The new facility will include a "more modern player locker room and lounge" and a "weight-room facility with state-of-the-art equipment." There will also be "film and study meeting rooms" as well as advanced training-room capabilities with "hydro and cryogenic treatment systems." Also included will be a "green space and courtyard locations for outside access and views of the city" as well as a sports medicine building "connected to the training facility" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 10/24). In Detroit, Chad Livengood noted the new facility was "part of the deal" the city cut with Pistons Owner Tom Gores to get the team to return downtown. The Pistons' 200-employee corporate backoffice "continues to work out of" the Palace for now. Construction on the facility is "expected to take nearly two years." Officials with both organizations said that the building "would cost" upward of $65M (CRAINSDETROIT.com, 10/23).
