The Palace Renovations

[Matt]

Palace upgrades for fans

Web-posted Oct 31, 2006
By JERRY WOLFFE
Of The Oakland Press

AUBURN HILLS - The Palace of Auburn Hills has been revved up to the tune of $30 million for Wednesday night's NBA season opener for the Pistons against Milwaukee.

The Pistons had the best record in the NBA last year at 64-18 but fell short of winning the NBA title when Detroit was eliminated by the Miami Heat, the eventual NBA champions.

The $25 million Comcast Pavilion was added to The Palace, and at least $5 million in additional upgrades were made for fans attending home games.

The 2006-2007 season begins at 8 p.m. Wednesday against the Bucks.

The 65,000-square-foot pavilion was opened in increments last year. The Palace hosted a formal grand opening before the final home playoff game of the 2005-2006 season while modifications were being completed, said Jeff Corey, director of public relations for The Palace.

Since opening 18 years ago, the privately financed facility has maintained its position as a top arena with more than $107 million in upgrades and additions, Corey said.

The building's grand new entrance will contain a food court that will include Buffalo Wild Wings and Big Boy concession stands, the Bacardi Bar food and beverage island and the Red Bull Bar lounge area. The food court is open to all event-goers.

Above the entrance level is the 800- seat ERSA Club, a season-ticket premium membership area. Below the entrance level is Club 53 and Suites, a private club and eight luxurious private boxes that are leased for the season at $350,000 each, Corey said.

Highlighting the $5 million in building upgrades and joining the establishments on the entrance level of the Comcast Pavilion is the new Pistons Locker Room, a team merchandise store.

A second, semipermanent team merchandise stand also will be added in the Comcast Pavilion, Corey said.

The building's East Entrance will be upgraded to include a new box office layout. The redesigned box office will have windowless counters, allowing for better communications, Corey said.

Throughout the building, Comcast digital cable has been added, along with new television monitors, including several HDTV units.

The Pistons' locker room and the visitors' locker room have both been upgraded, Corey said.

The Palace seats 22,076 fans with about half of the available seats going to season ticketholders, Corey said.

[Uncle Mxy]

Maybe they should stop being called renovations when they happen all the time... just call it maintenance.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...40M-renovation