As you may already know, the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks officially opened their new home, the Fiserv Forum, for the 2018-2019 NBA season last October. That new stadium is being heralded as the “World’s First Bird Friendly Arena,” due to many of the design features. Well, since the new one is open, we can only expect that the old, non-bird friendly (I’m assuming) arena has overstayed its welcome and has to go.
The Bradley Center, as the old arena was known, was completed almost exactly 30 years prior to its successor, in 1988. It took Huber, Hunt & Nichols, the general contractor on the original job roughly 2 years to complete the $91 million project, which is equal to around $208 million in 2018. By the time the new arena opened, the Bradley Center was among the oldest active arenas in the NBA.
On Sunday, January 13, 2019, a targeted explosion to bring down the roof structure was managed by Veit & Co, Inc., according to the Milwaukee Business Journal. Sunday was chosen due to the lower amount of street traffic and 2 streets adjacent to the structure were closed off for a period of time as an additional safety precaution.
The purpose of the blast was to separate the roof from the roof trusses. It also serves to lower the working height that workers will have to be at to finish the demolition. It’s always good to hear contractors thoughtfully assessing a situation to not only improve worker and public safety, but also create a more productive environment for everyone on site.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel caught some great footage of the blast, in both normal speed and in slow motion, for your viewing pleasure below:
On Tuesday morning, February 23, the Syracuse Fire Department responded to a call about a collapsed crane on a construction site near the university. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.