Virginia arena targeted for demolition

The dismantling of a closed sports arena near downtown, Richmond, Virginia, may soon be up to bid for demolition contractors under a plan being considered by that city’s council.

Officials in Virginia’s capital city have drafted a plan for new housing that entails demolishing the 50-year-old arena, according to a June 11 online article by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The proposed demolition comes about a year after the Richmond City Council rejected a $1.5 billion plan that would have retained the former Richmond Coliseum as a centerpiece of that redevelopment project, according to the newspaper.

The newly drafted plan would see the Coliseum demolished, replaced in part by more than 2,000 new residential units located in several buildings.

According to the Richmond Coliseum Wikipedia page, the 13,500-seat arena opened in 1971 and housed its last event—a Harlem Globetrotters basketball game—in December 2018.

The arena hosted an Elvis Presley concert in 1972, a Barack Obama campaign rally in 2008, several World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) events, and was a part-time home of the Virginia Squires of the American Basketball Association (ABA), for whom Julius Erving (Dr. J) once played.

Arenas and stadiums tend to provide considerable amounts of recyclable concrete and structural steel during the demolition process.