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Mile High Stadium won't go out with a bang
By Todd Hartman, News Staff Writer Mile High Stadium will come down, not with a big boom, but bit by bit. Contrary to popular hopes, there will be no explosions, no collapsing concrete and crashing steel. This will be a methodical wrecking job, conducted with giant machinery capable of delicate work. The stadium's demolition man, Arnold Spirtas of Spirtas Wrecking Co., almost apologized for the news. "It doesn't put all the hype into one day," Spirtas said, acknowledging the thrill accompanying a good implosion, like those that recently brought down the Kingdome in Seattle and Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. At Mile High, Spirtas and his St. Louis-based wrecking firm will employ old-fashioned wrecking balls and giant, Tyrannosaurus-like machines called "hydraulic excavators." Their enormous claws clamp down and slice through the stadium's concrete ramps and steel girders. "These things cut through steel like a like a hammer crushes a peanut," said Spirtas, as enthusiastic about knocking things down as others are about putting them up. Most of the $3 million job won't start until early next year, after football season at the new Invesco Field is complete. Metropolitan Football Stadium District officials had hoped to tear down Mile High prior to Invesco's opening, but Denver Mayor Wellington Webb wanted the old stadium available should any problems delay the opening of the new facility. With that, stadium district officials decided to hold off on demolition until season's end, because tear-down work in the middle of the season would create a hazard for fans milling around Invesco. "And we wouldn't be able to go full scale, so it would cost us more," said district spokesman Matt Sugar. The entire project -- from removing asbestos inside the old Mile High, to ripping down the stadium, to placing a parking lot over the site -- will take about nine months, Sugar said. Knocking down sports facilities in the heart of Denver isn't new to Spirtas. His company tore down McNichols Arena a year and a half ago. They didn't blow up that building either, but used the same equipment they'll use on Mile High. No demolition job is easy. All are dangerous, with so many trucks and heavy equipment rumbling about, Spirtas said. Mile High won't be as tough as some, though, because there's some elbow room around it. In contrast, Spirtas' company recently knocked down a building that stood within 20 feet of another. Fans attached to Mile High may enjoy knowing that traces of the old stadium will remain on site. Spirtas said much of Mile High's concrete -- the structure is roughly half steel, half concrete, he said -- will be pulverized and used as fill for the parking lot that will take the stadium's place. In all, Spirtas estimates 85 percent of Mile High will end up recycled. Concrete that isn't used for the parking lot will be taken elsewhere for crushing and reuse, he said. Same goes for the steel. Instead of spending what it costs to dump the steel in a landfill, the company will sell it to a scrap dealer, who will ship it to a steel mill for recycling. "That's what we're trying to do these days," Spirtas said. "Landfills are filling up." Spirtas knows not everyone is a fan of what a demolition company does: rip down places that people love. But he's proud and enthusiastic about an industry that he said has gained respect in recent years, as people have come to appreciate the expertise needed for the job. He notes that wrecking firms like his are increasingly called upon for difficult rescues, when people are trapped in a damaged building, for instance. He asks only that all those with sentimental attachment to Mile High remember his company is not the bad guy. "We're the mailmen of the industry," Spirtas said. "Do you shoot the mailman when he brings the letter with bad news? All we do is destroy what we're told to; we take orders." Contact Todd Hartman at (303) 892-5048 or hartmant@RockyMountainNews.com.
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