Independence Demolition was contracted by Colorado State University to perform the demolition of the iconic Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium in Ft. Collins, Colorado.  Built in 1968, covering 161 acres, and at an elevation of 5,200 feet, the stadium seated 35,000 in a natural bowl and included luxury suites.

“Front-end planning was extremely necessary on this job, as we were bringing some of our equipment and staff from our headquarters in Cleveland,” says Don DiGeronimo, Vice President of Demolition. “With forward planning and coordination with our Dispatch Manager, Mike DiGeronimo, we were able complete this task seamlessly.”

Our scope included salvage of 130’ press box and suites, upper and lower bowl seating, artificial turf, concessions, locker rooms, mechanical rooms and site landscaping and monuments.  Demolition consisted of 40,000 cubic yards of concrete, 1,200 ton of steel and 5,000 cubic yards of construction and demolition debris.  Site reclamation was also performed by IX including 178,000 CY of cut/fill balance, utility disconnects and abandonment, and 75 acres of seeding.

This project was performed in 5 months utilizing 80% local labor, working 15,000 man-hours with a perfect safety record.

SUSTAINABILITY

This project required us to divert 70% of the stadium materials from landfills.

• 40,000 tons of concrete was crushed and recycled
• 1,500 tons of metal was removed and sent to Rocky Mountain Recycling
• All stadium seating was removed and will be reused
•  FieldTurf playing surface will be used to patch other playing surfaces throughout the country
• Video scoreboard was donated to CSU-Pueblo which was installed in their football stadium last summer
• Twenty-two of the evergreen trees that were planted around the stadium were donated to the City of Fort Collins which will be replanted along the west and north sides of a new amphitheater at the Gardens on Spring Creek along Centre Ave, a half-mile south of CSU’s main campus.
• Lighting structures will be reused by the University along with electric control boxes, switches and similar items.
•  Metal bleacher seats were salvaged and are being resold and the plastic chair back seats were melted into new plastic by a recycling company.

SPECIAL PROJECT CONSIDERATIONS

Independence Demolition utilized a high reach excavator to expedite the process of removing the high concrete bleacher sections and the press box. This method was used to aid in completing the project ahead of schedule and ultimately, allowing the concrete that was demolished in place to be processed in a smaller size for use in the crushing activity. We also used dust bosses to maintain dust migration to the surrounding neighborhoods, which was of great concern to Colorado State University.