First portion of Mellon Arena roof cut and dropped.
The demolition process for Pittsburgh’s Mellon Arena has been long, painful and controversial. On Saturday, it took a big step toward completion: The first of eight roof panels of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ former home was knocked into the structure.
“It went perfect. It all just floated down,” George Boehm, a contractor for Noralco Corp., which is overseeing the arena’s demolition
Contractors had already cut structural supports on the panel, which will be cut into smaller pieces for removal. The work for each panel will take about a week to two weeks to complete.
In coming weeks, there will be five similar demolition sessions at the arena. Saturday’s was postponed twice due to snow.
The final step of removing “the Igloo’s” roof will be cutting up the cantilever arm that has held the entire piece in place since the building opened in 1961; the Civic Auditorium was the world’s first major indoor sports stadium with a retractable roof—six of the panels folded into two.
Read more here, or view the video below.
