BOOM, Miami Arena Gets Blown Up

Shapecity · Sep 22, 2008

Loud booms, puffs of smoke and debris pushed skyward finally marked the end for the landmark Miami Arena on Sunday morning.

At 8:06 a.m. explosives rigged to the steel trusses were detonated and the roof caved in as planned.

Portions of the pink surrounding wall shifted in too, but the outside remained intact.

The rest of the demolition on the oval arena, once called the city's ''Pink Elephant,'' will come in the next few weeks.

''Everything went off as planned,'' said Lisa Kelly, the owner of Advanced Explosives Demolition, the company responsible for the implosion.

The only hitch of the morning was a six minute delay for officials to get people on neighboring balconies to go inside.

The company spent the days leading up to Sunday's implosion rigging the 130 pounds of explosives, which were placed along the beams in two-foot long strips.

Unfortunately, for the dozens of spectators who came out early, there was little to see from ground level.

''You'll hear more than you see. The best view will be on TV from the helicopter,'' Kelly said.

Still, onlookers, many of them homeless, gathered behind yellow police tape about a block east from the building to take in the early morning action, as sirens sounded.

''We got up at the crack of dawn,'' said Isabel Stepniak, 23, as she sipped a coffee near the corner of Northeast First Avenue and Northeast Eighth Street. ``All for the entertainment value.''

Just after 8 a.m., it began. 'My heart said `Holy Cow,' '' Stepniak's friend Carolyn Balicki, 42, said of the blast's noise.

The street view of the implosion did not impress Jodi Dombrowski, who stopped by the arena.

Overhead shots showed a row of smoke plumes as the explosives detonated and then within a matter of seconds the top of the roof pulling in and the dust moving up.

''I just wanted to see it. I know it's been a part of history for 20 years,'' Dombrowski said.

The arena first opened in 1988 with a concert by Frank Sinatra, Liza Minelli and Sammy Davis Jr., who were touring together that year.

Miami Heat kicked off its inaugural season, and the Florida Panthers hockey team later played there. The University of Miami men's basketball team also played in the arena until 2006.

The current owner, Glenn Straub, bought the beleaguered arena from the city in 2004 for roughly $28 million, about half what the city paid to build it.

After more than a year, Straub closed the arena, which couldn't compete with the nearby AmericanAirlines Arena and the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, he said.

''Once the Heat moved out of here, it wrote its epitaph,'' he said.

A decision still hasn't been made as to what will be built there.

Straub says he'd like to bring the Florida Marlins stadium to the site, calling it a ''logical spot,'' but its almost an impossibility with the team as far along as it is to finalizing a deal at the Orange Bowl.

Other possibilities for the five-acre site: an aquarium; a venue for a show similar to Cirque du Soleil; or a movie production studio.

The process has been slow, and he said he's ready to move forward.

''I want to get the demolition out of the way,'' Straub said. ``Once we have this done we can get on with our lives.''

Before Sunday's implosion, the interior had already been gutted and the seats removed.

The pieces of ''nostalgia'' are being stored in a warehouse to be sold on eBay, Straub said.

The rest of the demolition will take about three to four weeks, with large equipment taking the walls and the rest of the interior down, said Steven Greenberg, CEO of the BG Group, the demolition company.

Miami police and fire rescue will use the inside of the stadium for two days to practice rescue drills, he said.

Dan Jere, the project superintendent with Advanced Explosives Demolition said of the blast: ``It went off with a bang. Always does.''
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Source: Miami Herald

Master Shake · Sep 22, 2008

I hope Cubes is alright.

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BOOM, Miami Arena Gets Blown Up

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