NEW HAVEN -- Demolition crews using a construction crane with huge metal shears will begin ripping apart the Veterans Memorial Coliseum Monday in preparation for a final implosion of the massive building in January, city officials said.

Demolition crews have spent months pulling out electrical and telephone wiring, two 10,000-gallon oil tanks and various environmentally hazardous materials.

The coliseum site will become home to a hotel and conference center, retail businesses, affordable and market-rate housing, and possibly Long Wharf Theatre, whose move there from its current spot in an industrial park along the shore of Long Island Sound is on hold.

The coliseum demolition is just one part of the state- and city-funded, $230 million Gateway Downtown Development Project between Church and State streets downtown.

The city also will tear down the former Macy's and Malley's department store buildings on Chapel Street to make room for Gateway Community College, which will relocate from Long Wharf. The project includes several new parking facilities and a new park.

The coliseum opened in 1972 and was designed by architect Kevin Roche, who also collaborated on the design of the nearby Knights of Columbus headquarters. The facility was home to local hockey teams and brought in a wide variety of entertainment. Musical acts ranging from Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra to Van Halen and the Grateful Dead performed there.

The initial demolition will take down the walls and shell of the building over the next six weeks, leaving the floor and steel superstructure, said Derek Slap, spokesman for Mayor John DeStefano. The city hopes to sell off some of the coliseum's seats as souvenirs but is trying to find a way to extract the chairs that won't cost a lot of money, Slap added.

Various officials will gather at the corner of George and State streets at 3:30 Monday afternoon for a press conference to spell out the details of the project over the next few months. The demolition will cost the city $6 million.

Construction on a new Long Wharf Theater is expected to begin next spring, and on the Gateway Community College facility the following year.