As the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium continues to rise downtown, plans also are moving forward to demolish the Falcons’ current home next door.
In a briefing to the Georgia World Congress Center Authority board about the stadium project Tuesday, key members of the construction team said a Georgia Dome demolition contract likely will be awarded by August of this year. Pre-qualification of prospective bidders is scheduled to be completed in March, followed by a bid process.
Wayne Wadsworth, principal in charge for stadium general contractor Holder Hunt Russell Moody, and Bill Darden, the Falcons’ stadium project executive, told the board that they expect the Dome demolition to be partly by implosion.
“Depending on the firm that is selected — we have had preliminary discussions with a number of different firms — there is more than likely going to be some level of implosion,” Wadsworth said. “There are some firms that want to implode more of the existing structure than others. … The team that we select will be part of the design and the engineering of the right way to take it down.”
Wadsworth and Darden said the demolition is expected to be a “hyrid” of implosion and other methods.
In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month, Darden said a hybrid method would involve imploding part of the building, including the roof structure, and then taking the rest of the building down mechanically "with cranes or possibly wrecking ball, things of that nature." He also said in that interview: "We're highly optimistic that we'll be able to get the Dome down and all the debris revoved in 2017, hopefully early fourth quarter of '17. But in no event would it go past very early in 2018."
The Falcons are scheduled to play their 25th and final season in the Georgia Dome this year. Mercedes-Benz Stadium is slated to open in June 2017.
Please click here for a full story on the stadium update to the GWCCA board, including an answer to the question of when the button will be pushed for the first time to operate the retractable roof.
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