From MLive’s Gus Burns, WDIV, WXYZ, and Crain’s Detroit Business’s Bill Shea, all with publishing dates at or around 5:30 AM:
After 18 months of delays and discussion, the sale of city-owned Joe Louis Arena’s thousands of seats has finally been scheduled — and it starts today.
There will be a separate sale for other assets from inside the 39-year-old arena in Detroit, including the scoreboard, ice equipment and suite wet bars.
The online seat auction will be at thejoeseats.com.
Current full and partial season ticket holders, suite holders and corporate sponsors will be able to bid starting Tuesday. The general public can bid for whatever is left beginning May 12.
The city has hired Byron Center-based appraisal and auction firm Miedema Asset Management Group Inc. and Bloomfield Hills-based industrial asset auctioneer Robert Levy Associates LLC to handle the direct sale of the seats and fixtures.
Terms of the deal between the Detroit Building Authority and the auctioneers weren’t disclosed. Levy owner Robert Levy told Crain’s that the deal is a “cumulative tiered structure” for sales fees, but deferred any comment on specific financials to the city. A message was left with the mayor’s office.
Seat prices will begin at $150, and they will be sold in minimum sets of two because of the shared armrests. Feet for the seats, which come in wall- or floor-mounted variations, will be made available for what’s expected to be about $170 to $180 per pair of seats.
Requests for specific seats will incur additional charges, but amounts weren’t disclosed. Pricing will be on the auction site.
Shea continues, and he reports that almost everything else must go:
Aside from seats, equipment and fixtures will be sold online via a separate auction at orbitbid.com and rlevyinc.com/sales. Among the items that will be auctioned are furniture, lighting, signs, plumbing, HVAC, chilling systems and other basic infrastructure, but also will include suite wet bars and the Joe’s official scoreboard, the auctioneers said.
