Colorado State University sets diversion goals for stadium demolition

Colorado State University (CSU), Fort Collins, Colorado, is demolishing its Hughes Stadium, a 32,500-seat stadium that was home to the CSU football team from 1968 until 2016, a report by the Coloradoan says. The building will be deconstructed by Cleveland-based Independence Excavating, which is contractually obliged to divert at least 70 percent of material from landfill.

In the Q&A report, CSU Project Manager Tony Flores and CSU Campus Planner Fred Haberecht say a large structure on the west side of the stadium that includes the press box, Hughes Room and luxury suites will be taken down April 9-10. The concrete filling the stadium bowl is scheduled to be removed by July, and Independence crews will begin backfilling the bowl by levelling the surrounding berms to restore the site to its original slope.

Last fall, the board of governors approved $4 million to $6 million for the project, the report says. Independence was awarded the deconstruction contract at $3.3 million, and $500,000 has been used on asbestos abatement. Because of Independence’s diversion requirements, Flores has been on-site to monitor the company’s compliance. A large video scoreboard has been donated to CSU’s Pueblo campus and 22 Evergreen trees were donated to the city of Fort Collins.

The turf has been removed and will be sold to a company in Pueblo that will use it to patch other turf, the report says. The university plans to use lighting structures from the stadium and surrounding parking lot, as well as electronic control boxes, switches and other similar items. The report says asphalt from the paved parking lots will be ground and used as a base layer in other projects.

Metal bleachers will be salvaged for resale and plastic chairback seats that will be melted into new plastics by a recycler, the report says. Connell Resources, a Fort Collins-based subcontractor, will remove rebar for repurposing and crush the concrete.

The CSU Research Foundation is in charge of the site’s redevelopment, the Q&A says, and is currently seeking bids and plans for qualified developers to oversee a mixed-use development to replace the old stadium.