Pontiac City Council OK’s sale of Phoenix Center

The Pontiac City Council has approved the sale of a business district parking structure — a move members say resolves a legal dispute, will spur development and will help pump money into city coffers.

“It’s a win-win,” said Council Pro-Tem Mary Pietila on Thursday night after the council’s decision.

The panel voted 7-0 to back the sale of the aging Phoenix Center parking structure to BoonEx, an Australia-based software developer, for about $3 million, Petila said. The sale of the parking structure is expected to close Feb. 13, Pietila said.

The developer is slated to rehabilitate the structure — which Pontiac had once eyed for demolition, claiming it was too costly to fix and dangerous to keep open.

Plans call for the city to have 12 free events at the Phoenix Center Amphitheater each year and Pontiac to earn 25 percent of the parking structure revenue, Pietila said. The money from the sale is expected to pay off liens on the structure as well as release the city from a legal battle with the owners of the twin eight-story office buildings connected to it, she added.

“We are walking away with a package that is unbelievable,” Pietila said.

Once touted as a key to rebuilding the city’s downtown business district, the Phoenix Center was built in 1980 at a cost of $23 million.

The city condemned the property in March 2014 and said it would cost more than $8.1 million to repair and nearly $200,000 a year to maintain it.

Ottawa Towers, which operates the nearby office buildings, went to court over the controversial plan to demolish it. State courts have ruled in their favor at least six times.