Michigan has approved $16 million in tax incentives for the Detroit Pistons to build a practice facility and headquarters in downtown Detroit.
The Michigan Strategic Fund Board on Tuesday granted a request by the city's brownfield redevelopment authority to allow for the capture of local taxes to help fund the $107 million project.
Public subsidies of sports teams have come under criticism. But the team and economic development officials say that without the incentives, it would be too expensive to remove environmentally contaminated soil on the site of what is now a parking lot and bus garage.
The Pistons hope to open the four-story building in 2019. It also will include retail space, a parking deck, and a sports medicine and medical office building operated by Henry Ford Health System.
