PONTIAC, Mich. (WXYZ) — An end of an era: later this morning, the final above-ground piece of the Phoenix Center will be demolished. It's a giant leap forward for the plans to reconnect downtown Pontiac.
The old amphitheater has been a fixture in Pontiac for five decades, and it holds a lot of memories. By taking it down, the city hopes to usher in new growth.
Watch Brittany's report in the video player below
We talked to community members who have watched this construction for the last few months. We stopped into M1 Grill across the street; one customer used to work in the Phoenix Center in its hayday. He said he had some good memories, but is excited to see what's next. Employees at the restaurant said it's been fun watching the demo over the last few moths, and are sad to see the staircase go.
"Yes, to be honest with yo,u they should leave it," said CC Dedha, a manager at M1 Grill. "I do want it there, I love it. I peek out the window every day to see if it’s dropping, but no, I hope they leave it. I really do."
The plaza was a great place to be. Great place to look and sit, and see concerts. It was a good place," said Leonard Smith, an M1 customer who used to work there. "Isaac Hayes, Frankie Beverly and Maze, The O'Jays yeah."
The Phoenix Center had its last concert in 2011. Now all that's left above ground are the stairs, and those will be gone later this morning. A piece of machinery called The Dinosaur is scheduled to knock them down at 7 a.m. This $60 million project started in April and is ahead of schedule, according to Pontiac City Council President Mike McGuinness.
Oakland County bought some of the vacant and developed property, with plans to eventually relocate some county jobs to newly refurbished buildings. After the stairs come down today, debris needs to be cleared, and some work underground needs to happen. Then you'll start to see the next phases of this project.
"That way we can begin resurfacing or reconnecting our main street of Saginaw downtown, the other roadways and the amazing redevelopment of office towers, businesses, apartments, city park, parking structures," McGuinness said. "Great stuff coming to our historic downtown."
Once the street is reconnected, it'll be the first time you'll be able to use Saginaw Street as a through street in about 50 years. The debris is scheduled to all be cleared by December.
