Story Created:
Mar 9, 2010 at 7:58 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Mar 9, 2010 at 7:58 PM CDT
March 9, 2010
It's a sign that things are about to change soon on the land now occupied by Memorial Coliseum. Now there's a chain link fence surrounding the structure.
The demolition company hired by the city is in the initial stages of doing it's job: demolishing the building, now a symbol to many that is about the old days of Corpus Christi, home to concerts, like the one where Elvis performed, to countless circuses.
There's opposition to the Memorial Coliseum coming down, with arguments that the Coliseum is on a list of endangered historic places. But the demolition continues as planned.
The contractor secured the area today in order to make it a safe environment when crews begin to bring in equipment. They'll begin on Monday by removing asbestos from inside. The company was hired by the city last month at a cost of nearly $600,000.
Today we spoke with the project manager who says the Coliseum is too small to perform any type of implosion. Instead, large machines will be brought in to literally chew up the building. Project Manager, Vernon Carr told Kiii News today, "This is normal size for us, average doesn't compare to right now. We are doing Texas Stadium. the Dallas Cowboy stadium which we are imploding on April 11Th. That's quite a difference in size. This is not something we would consider for an implosion. We'll just bring it down."
The manager says much of debris will be recycled. Once the job is done here, the company will be putting down grass, and a sprinkler system.
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