Palace of Auburn Hills officially closing with Bob Seger concert in September

It was a reasonable guess, but the Palace of Auburn Hills will officially be closing its doors as an arena. Ever since its primary occupant of the Detroit Pistons announced its move downtown, the end of the Palace was something of a foregone conclusion.

Only three events remain on the calendar for the venue: a Tim McGraw concert, a bridal expo, and the finale as a Bob Seger concert.

Brian McCollum of Detroit Free Press reported today that Palace Sports & Entertainment confirmed today that Seger will indeed represent the last event for the Palace.

It’s a shame, as the Palace remains a terrific building and has had numerous renovations since Tom Gores assumed ownership. Gores offered to sell the venue to Oakland County last year for $370 million, an offer turned down by the county government. The county leadership said that it would have been a bad financial move and that they didn’t want to risk having another (ouch) Pontiac Silverdome on their hands.

The most likely outcome will be for the building to be demolished to make way for some other sort of real estate venture. The Free Press suggests that real estate insiders figure it’ll be a technology park.

It will likely still be a fixture for the next few years at least though as the Pistons will need a home to practice while one is being built downtown next to the new Little Caesars Arena.

The new downtown arena opens in less than three weeks with a long sting of high profile acts, headlined by a six-night Kid Rock set.