Milwaukee arena braced for roof blast.
Demolitions experts on Sunday will finish the work promised by rockers Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen and the Rolling Stones: Blow the roof off the Bradley Center.
A ring of explosives will be detonated on the joints that support the massive roof trusses on the 30-year-old arena which closed last summer.
The goal is to “lower the trusses down to a lower level, to a much safer level, so the workers aren’t 100 feet off the ground trying to demo the roof structure” in the months ahead, said Mike Abrams of Icon, the company representing the Milwaukee Bucks for the project.
Abrams and others involved in the demolition spoke last week at a Common Council Public Works Committee meeting where they successfully sought permission to temporarily close West State Street and North Vel Phillips Avenue during the work early Sunday.
The Bucks obtained control over the old arena as part of the agreement that led to the construction of Fiserv Forum, their new $524 million home next door. The Bucks see the 7-acre site as a crucial part of the development potential around their new arena.
Demolition has begun in earnest from inside the closed arena and Sunday’s event will be a dramatic step forward.
Read more here.
